Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
by UnendingEmpire
Summary: Thinking about the past can be tough. When Kogasa thinks about it one too many times, she decides to try and avenge herself against Sanae. Things take an unexpected twist, and the karakasa ends up in a situation she'd never see coming!
1. Chapter 1: The Plot

**Before anything, I want to say that this takes place after the events of UFO, but before Ten Desires.**

**With that out of the way, this fanfic has taken a lot of sudden turns in writing. At first, it was going to be about Kogasa's past as an umbrella, but it just sat as a blank text document for about two weeks. Then, all of a sudden, I have this idea that she should try to get revenge on Sanae. And then, near the end of this chapter, I wind up with ANOTHER sudden turn that surprised even me!**

**Yes, this fanfic is just bound to be full of surprises. Funny, considering this is my only fanfic where Kogasa is a main character…**

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><p><strong>100 years ago…<strong>

"You know you don't have to do this," the man told his daughter. They were both human, living here in our world. "I'm sure she can buy her own umbrella."

"It means more if you get it from a friend," the girl replied. "Besides, I saw this really nice little umbrella the other day, and I want to see if they still have it." Entering the store, the girl rushed off to where said umbrella was. Only to find it was no longer there. Only one umbrella left in stock; a large purple one with an eggplant-like top. "Hm…I guess this will do just as well…" _I guess. But then again…would it?_

"Then let's buy it."

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><p><strong>Not much later…<strong>

"Here," the girl said. "I bought you something."

"Really?"

"You know how you're always complaining that you never have an umbrella, and that it's been raining a lot recently? Well, surprise!" The girl held out the purple umbrella, saying "I got you an umbrella!"  
>"Oh…wow. Thank you." <em>What the hell? It doesn't look like an umbrella; it looks like some kind of mutated eggplant. But it'd be mean of me to say no.<em> "Thanks."

* * *

><p><strong>Not much later after that…<strong>

Into the dumpster the umbrella went. "Purple is such an ugly color, anyway…"

* * *

><p><strong>Right now…<strong>

It was rainy days in Gensokyo like this that reminded Kogasa of those humans. She didn't remember their faces, but in her mind, the kind one who bought the umbrella looked like Byakuren, because the Youchrist had taken Kogasa in at one point when things were looking really bad for the karakasa. The one that threw her out…in her mind, she looked like Sanae.

_"I don't know if anyone would want an old umbrella that looks like an eggplant."_

So cruel…

"_Just, if I got an umbrella like that from a friend, I thought maybe I'd rather say no and go home wet…"_

"How dare she say those things to me," Kogasa shouted. That miko had no idea what it was like to be thrown out just because you were what you were created as. How dare she mock a forgotten item, one that was troubled enough as a youkai without somebody picking on her. She would show that miko to have more respect for umbrellas. And on a rainy day like today, that would be simple enough.

* * *

><p>"It's really coming down today," Sanae said, looking out from the porch of the Moriya Shrine. "I wonder what everybody's up to out there."<p>

"Why not go outside and find out," Kanako asked. "You've been staying indoors an awful lot recently. Remember what I said?"

"That I need to master youkai hunting like everybody else? Lady Kanako, I've already mastered it."

"Well there you have it. If you stick around here, you'll only get rusty. That wouldn't be any good. What if there's another incident that needs solving, and nobody else can solve it but you?"

"I guess. It's just that I don't like getting my hair wet; it's very hard to dry."

"…_That's_ your excuse?"

"Hey, you used the same excuse back in the human world. Why can't I?"

"Because _you_ have a raincoat in your room. Go on, now, get dressed and go hunt some youkai."

"Alright," Sanae reluctantly said. She really didn't want to do anything today. It was just one of those days where one simply didn't feel inspired to do anything at all, and they would just laze around all day, just waiting for time to pass. And besides, she didn't like her raincoat that much. It felt strange to keep her hair under the hood, and leaving that hood down would mean getting her hair wet, which was her excuse for staying inside to begin with.

Reaching into her closet and pulling out the bright blue raincoat, Sanae tossed it onto her bed while she took off her sleeves. That was another one of the reasons she didn't like wearing her raincoat; she had to take the sleeves off. Once they were off, those too were tossed onto the bed, as Sanae slipped the raincoat on over her now-bare arms. Then she began doing the buttons from the bottom up, one at a time. Sanae wasn't really sure what material composed it. Suwako had gotten it for her back in the human world, so for all she knew, it could have been some mysterious material Suwako created from the earth.

Whatever composed it, despite everything Sanae disliked about it, the raincoat felt very smooth against her skin, and strangely, slightly appealing. Was that a Suwako trick? Whether it was or not, Sanae grabbed the blue boots composed of the same material, and would put them on over her bare feet once she stepped outside. For now though, Sanae made her way back across the shrine, pulling her hood up along the way. "Okay," she said. "I'm out of here."

"Enjoy yourself," Kanako said. "And if you come across Reimu, send her a warm hello from the Moriya Shrine." Even if Kanako and Reimu were easily at odds, it was no excuse for the goddess to not act friendly. Such a personable attitude was a great way to gather faith, for one can catch far more flies with honey than with vinegar.

"Will do." And out the door Sanae went as she quickly put the waterproof boots over her feet. That was another part of her body she hated getting wet, and with the Moriya Shrine's old location in the humans world, next to a tiny lake that had a horrible tendency to flood, such boots were a must-have for anybody who planned to either live there or simply visit.

But when Sanae stepped outside, she stopped for a second. She didn't recall buying any umbrellas, much less _all_ of these umbrellas! There had to be at least fifty umbrellas dotting the grounds of the Moriya Shrine! Umbrellas of every shape, size, and color imaginable, and some that even looked big enough to swallow Sanae whole! What on earth was with all of these umbrellas?

"I hate you!" Off the roof leapt one karakasa, carrying her trademarked eggplant umbrella. Intent: tackle Sanae and strangle her. Not to death, mind, but just enough to surprise her.

Result: Success! Sanae was pinned down on the ground as the massive tongue of the umbrella reached out and around Sanae's neck. Then the tongue twisted itself in such a way that Kogasa's new victim would be able to see just who was responsible. "How does it feel to be hunted," Kogasa asked coldly.

"Ko…gasa…"

"Are you _surprised_?" An insane little smile began working its way across Kogasa's face, as she said "You probably didn't think you'd end up in this situation, did you?"

It took a few moments for Sanae to realize what was going on. Kogasa was fed up with being constantly hunted down by the miko, and now she wanted revenge. That probably meant she wasn't going to let go until Sanae dropped dead from lack of oxygen. Taking in breaths as deeply as she could, Sanae asked quickly between breaths "Why?"

"Because you're so horribly cruel to me. And now it's my turn." Swinging the umbrella around a bit, the umbrella's tongue let go of Sanae at the perfect time to hurl her into a large rock, probably breaking a few bones with sheer force. And before the miko even had a chance to get up, Kogasa was there, crushing her ribs with a foot. "I should probably kill you right here, right now. What would you think of that, Sanae?" The karakasa seemed rather delighted when fear started showing on Sanae's face. "But I still have another surprise waiting for you."

Kogasa's foot moved off of Sanae's body, as the karakasa said "I'm not going to. Isn't that also surprising?"

Gasping for air now that she could finally breathe regularly, Sanae asked "You had the perfect chance. Why didn't you take it?"

"Because unlike you, I'm no murderer."

"M-M…_Murderer?_"

"Youkai are people, too, Sanae. And you kill them. Sure, we'll just come back by the end of the day, but death is never a happy thing, no matter the circumstances. Being dead is a very frightening thing. Just keep that in mind, alright?" With that, the karakasa put her umbrella over her head to stay dry, and began walking away from the shrine.

She smiled with pride as she did this. That was a very mature thing she'd just done, and very responsible as well. If Kogasa had any friends she knew of, they would probably be very proud of her since it wasn't every day a youkai had a chance to kill Sanae, or any youkai hunter for that matter. Yes, so far, today was shaping up-

_CRASH!_

One massive bolt of lightning seemed to crack the skies in half while an explosion of thunder had the same effect on any eardrums that were outside to hear the full blast. Kogasa would have leapt out of her skin if she hadn't been struck with lightning.

Sanae was able to approximate where the lightning bolt hit well enough to know that it probably just fried a karakasa. Right after Kogasa spared her life, too…

If ever the time came for Sanae to return a favor, now was the time. The miko quickly ran over to Kogasa's unconscious body, dragging her back up the stairs of the Moriya Shrine. Youkai extermination was easy business, especially if the youkai was knocked out. But youkai _rescuing_ was different. That old sorceress living at the Myouren Temple…she'd probably be very proud that Sanae was doing this; bringing Kogasa into the Moriya Shrine until she regained consciousness and recovered. Injuries from lightning bolts were serious, and Sanae actually had to consider Kogasa very lucky to be alive right now.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, up on the roof, perfectly hidden were it not for the hat on her head, one strange little goddess watched the entire scene unfold. The short fight between the two, Sanae's life being spared, and now Sanae bringing Kogasa into the shrine to recover. Nodding to herself, Suwako mentally assured herself <em>Yep, I knew it all along. Sanae's a good girl however badass she tries to be.<em>

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><p><strong>Surprising, no? For some reason, I think I read a fanfic like this once before, but at the same time, I know I didn't. Oh, now I remember why I'm thinking of other fanfics! It reminds me a bit of Functioning Alcoholic, because Suika went to the Moriya Shrine for a short bit in that fanfic. Though I must say, the circumstances that brought our beloved tsurupettan oni there and those surrounding our cute little karakasa were quite different.<strong>

**I'm sure if Solblight were reading this, we would agree on this. Wait a minute…ha ha ha ha, I just now remembered that Solblight crack-paired Suika and Kogasa together!**

**I'd do the same thing, but I'd rather crack-pair Kogasa with somebody more like…hm…**

**Actually, those two are a very cute couple; I might do the same pairing, but probably not. Who knows?**


	2. Chapter 2: The Twist of Fate

**So I have two fanfics starring Kogasa? Well, "Rumia and Kogasa" stars Rumia more than Kogasa, and this one stars Kogasa primarily. Lots of moving around in this one, but I'm not telling you the final destination of this. It took me a while to find a direction here, and after some random Danbooru browsing with Kogasa as a focus, I found a picture that just gave me the perfect idea! It also reminds me a lot of the later portions of one of my favorite fanfics ever written.**

**If you've read it too, you'll know which fanfic I'm referring to by the end of the chapter, most likely.**

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><p>One blue eye opened up to see a ceiling. And one red eye with it. The blue-haired girl sat up, and looked at her surroundings. Where was she?<p>

The door slid open, and in stepped one green-haired miko carrying a tray of various little snacks and two cups of tea. "I see you're alive," she said.

"Um…where am I?"

"The Moriya Shrine."

"Alright…I have a couple more questions, too."

"Ask away," the miko said as she set down the tray and took a small sip of tea.

"Who are you?"

The miko nearly choked on her tea when she was asked the question. "What do you mean, who am I? You mean you don't remember me?" _That lightning bolt to her head was pretty bad, but I wasn't ready for memory loss. You would think, that out of everybody in Gensokyo, she'd remember the one person she actively avoids._ "Alright. My name is Sanae Kochiya."

"Nice to meet you, Sanae."

"A pleasure," Sanae said in return, handing the blue-haired youkai a cup of tea. "Any more questions?"

"Yes…who am _I_?"

That time, Sanae actually did choke on her tea. After a brief fit of coughing, though, she managed to fix the issue. "You forgot who you are?"

"Well…yes. I can't remember anything."

"Alright…your name is Kogasa Tatara. So you know who I am, who you are, and where you are. Anything else escape your mind?"

"Why am I here exactly? I have a bit of a headache, does that have anything to do with it?" Kogasa scratched at the back of her head a bit, feeling the spot where it ached. Why did her head hurt?

"You were struck by a bolt of lightning. You should count yourself lucky to be alive right now. I brought you here shortly afterward and put you down on that bed. I've gotta hand it to you, you gave me quite a scare."

"You were afraid? Are we friends?"

"Well…not quite." Should she tell Kogasa that Sanae was a youkai hunter? It was probably rather frightening to not remember anything, including your own name. Why add to the fright with the fact that Kogasa was standing before a very proficient youkai hunter; one who would go out of her way to hunt the karakasa down if sighted? "We're…acquaintances."

"Alright. So…what else do you know about me?"

"Let's see…" Crap. What else _did_ Sanae know? Her name was Kogasa Tatara; obvious. She was a karakasa; fairly obvious. Kogasa was Sanae's number one choice of prey; obvious to anybody who knew the two. Was that really all that Sanae knew? How disappointing…

"I can tell by the look on your face," Kogasa said. "You don't have any answers, do you?"

"I'm afraid not, sorry."

"That's okay. Do you know of anybody who might?"

"Well…there's this old sorceress who might know more." And there was also that one girl who had come through the Moriya Shrine that one time; the one that could read the subconscious. Maybe she would also know something? For now though, Byakuren was everybody's best bet in getting answers about Kogasa's life. "Would you like to meet her?"

"Yes, please." Heading toward the door, Kogasa stopped at the sight of a purple umbrella in the corner. It wasn't really the best shade of purple, and the top made Kogasa think of an eggplant. "That's a cute umbrella," Kogasa said. "Is it yours?"

"Wha…I…no! It's your umbrella!"

"Is it?" Picking it up, the karakasa said "I'd hate to leave this umbrella here. It might get forgotten forever, and then it would become an angry youkai." Umbrella in hand, Kogasa made her way through the door. The sooner she met this sorceress, the better.

…Did that really just happen? Just how much of her memory had that girl lost? Did Kogasa forget that _she_ was a youkai? Well, this didn't bode well at all. Forgetting one's location or name was bad, but forgetting one's own species was another issue entirely. Furthermore, it was an issue that Sanae was unfamiliar with, and she had no idea what to do to resolve it. If this had happened to a large number of people, it would probably be declared an incident by somebody. Good thing it was just Kogasa, in that case.

When Sanae stepped out into the front room of the Moriya Shrine, she was rather surprised to find the karakasa at the table, having what sounded like a lively conversation with both Kanako and Suwako. "Come on, Kogasa. We've gotta get going."

"Right!" Kogasa slid open the doors of the Moriya Shrine. The thunderstorm from earlier was over; it was a bright and sunny day outside in Gensokyo now. A perfect day for trying to discover one's past.

* * *

><p><strong>Later, at the Myouren Temple…<strong>

"Hmm…I'm afraid I don't have any answers," Byakuren said. "Sorry about that, Kogasa."

"It's alright. As stressful as it is, not having any memory is actually kind of relaxing."

"Relaxing," Sanae asked. "How so?"

"If I don't have any memory about my past, all the bad stuff is just gone. Just _poof_, and no bad memories."

"As optimistic as that is, your good memories are gone too."

"I'll make a new set of them," Kogasa said with a beaming smile. "I'm sure whatever things I should avoid doing, I'll know not to do them, deep in my head."

"Deep…" _Like on a subconscious level. Since Byakuren couldn't help us, I guess we're going underground._ "Kogasa. I think I might know who can restore your memory."

"Really, now?" The beaming smile on the karakasa's face grew some more, as she asked "Who are they?" And then something else hit Kogasa. Without memory, she had no idea if she even had a job in the past! Whether she did or not, she needed to find one. She had to make money somehow, and hopefully this other person could help her with not only her memory problem, but her current unemployment.

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><p><strong>Approximately six in the evening; Komeiji Hot Springs Resort<strong>

"Memory loss isn't my field," Satori said, sitting firmly in a large leather chair that made her seem even smaller than she was. "You'd have to ask Koishi about that. But that's a bit of a problem, you see."

"Oh? What's the problem," Kogasa asked. "We just go up to her and ask, right?"

"Well for starters, she's not exactly known for being of sound mind. Secondly, and this is the real problem, my sister is a bit of a traveling gourmet who travels Gensokyo from time to time to try and find new delicacies to enjoy, and she's out at the moment. The soonest I expect her to come back is tomorrow afternoon, but Koishi can be out anywhere from a single day to months at a time. She actually left just moments ago." Satori trusted her sister for these trips. And not only that, but it wouldn't do to try and send somebody to watch over her; the girl's power over the subconscious could render her invisible to anybody except Satori herself. So while Satori both worried for and trusted Koishi, all she could do was wait for the younger Komeiji sister to return. At least she usually had a tasty souvenir that almost made up for how Satori tended to worry for Koishi being out there alone.

"I see…"

"Hm? You also need a job? I just so happen to have an opening. Lucky for you, Kogasa, you happen to be just the kind of person I need for the job, and you seem to be of decent mind. There are plenty others like you out there, but I refuse to hire a lolicon at this resort. Since you fit the bill perfectly and I have confidence in your ability, would you like a job here?"

"Would I ever!" She'd just been thinking about how great this place was when she first arrived; a five-star hotel complete with hot springs! The water was never just lukewarm, but always hot as hot springs should be, and it was never too hot or cold at the resort. And lastly, the brick-and-stained-glass architecture made the resort seem so majestic; as though one were staying in a castle rather than a hotel. Five stars, indeed. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow we'll do some training, and once we think you're ready, you'll begin. I guarantee that being an attendant here is quite a different pace from such a job in most other places. You'll need to be quick on your feet and in your mind; no matter how many sets of hands we get, there always seems to be at least twice as many people staying here."

"You've got it…wait, what does 'we' mean?"

"While I'm the owner of this fine establishment, I find that sometimes even I can be a bit biased. So I decided to have Rin and Utsuho; the resort's two managers, plus myself have a three-person 'council' for lack of better terms. Even if I don't want to hire somebody, if my two pets say that he or she should be hired, they're in. Of course, if it concerns the well-being of the resort as a whole rather than just things like payroll, I have the final say in all affairs. But I can see that this is a lot of information to absorb at once. For tonight, I want you to go up to the front desk and get a room for a few days. I doubt you live around here, and it'd be inconvenient to come here every day from a long distance. Tell them Satori said to give you a room free for a few days…Room 416. If we hire you, I'll charge you half-price for the room and just deduct it from your paycheck."

"Thank you, Miss Satori!" And with that, Kogasa got up out of her chair, and dragged Sanae along with her to the front desk. She was going to be working at this wonderful place! Kogasa looked forward to it a lot; to work at this awesome hot spring resort.

* * *

><p><strong>So, what do you think? Kogasa working at the Komeiji Hot Spring Resort sounds like fun, yeah? I actually saw the image behind it about a week ago, and was looking through my flash drive and couldn't figure out why it wasn't there :|<strong>

**This is a very bright and happy fanfic despite a slightly frown-worthy first chapter, so I listen to lots of upbeat and cheerful songs to write it. Songs from Scatman John are perfect for this fanfic, and I'm listening to one of his songs as I'm writing this author note!**

**Anyway, for those who know what fanfic I was referring to, the other main character won't be appearing in this fanfic, otherwise I'd just look like I'm trying to replicate it, which I most certainly am not! Her friend may show up because I remembered what I said about the picture on Danbooru, and I paraphrase:**

"**Kogasa can serve that ice cream excellently. As for the water…I think (SPOILER) needs to teach her a few tricks."**

**On one final note, this one pertaining to Koishi, I'm trying to plan out a fanfic starring her. Not sure what to do with it at the moment, but if you have an idea, feel free to drop it. You never know what kind of things will get my mind in creative mode (to prove it, I once got inspired by the wallpaper on my desktop when it was a picture of Cirno and her gang in a desert; I wound up making Team Nineball's Daring Adventure)**


	3. Chapter 3: The First Day of Training

**I think I'll focus on this fanfic for a while; I like where it's headed. Oddly, the song Scatmambo is perfect for this fanfic for whatever reason…well, not the first chapter. Those first two were very different, but I'm gonna stick to the brighter cheery style of the second chapter more than the somewhat gloomy first chapter.**

**You may have also noticed that I changed the second main character from Sanae to Koishi in the story info. I noticed that Sanae isn't really important in this one, or at least she wasn't once Kogasa got into the resort. I think a KogaKoishi fic would be pretty fun to write.**

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><p><strong>The following morning…<strong>

Today Kogasa's training would begin! It was an exciting day for her, enough so that she had some trouble sleeping the previous night. But that didn't matter; the energy from the excitement that her training would start by far outweighed her lack of sleep last night. The karakasa was up bright and early, and took another look at her room. With stone walls, red carpet flooring, and exquisite furniture, Kogasa felt almost like royalty staying here. Then there was the eggplant umbrella, resting next to the door.

Sanae wasn't here anymore; she made her way back to the Moriya Shrine shortly after Kogasa got the room. The heterochromatic girl made a mental note to go up and thank Sanae for getting her here when she had the spare time for it. For now though, she had to go see Satori about starting her training.

And just as the karakasa reached for the door, it opened with a red-haired kasha standing on the other side in a green kimono with a blue sash. "Mornin', sis," Rin greeted with a smile that practically said 'I hope you're ready' in big neon letter. "Satori sent me to getcha, and I brought your uniform."

"She sure knows how to read people…"

"Mind-reading isn't great for makin' friends, but she can run this resort like nobody in Gensokyo will ever hope to. She reads the thought of a customer who wants something, and she manipulates an attendant's conscious mind to alert them to it. The system works great!"

"Sounds like it," Kogasa said as she was handed her uniform. It was a kimono not unlike Rin's, and the only difference was that Kogasa's was pink with a purple sash. "Give me a second to put this on."

"You've got it." So Rin closed the door to give the karakasa the privacy she wanted to get dressed. And moments later, Kogasa came out the door in her uniform. "You got dressed pretty fast."

"Surprised?"

"Yeah, actually. Come on, Satori wants to see ya, sis."

"Alright." Kogasa started following Rin down the halls. Unlike the stone walls and carpet flooring of the bedrooms, the halls had bamboo walls and tatami floors that yelled 'Japanese décor' in their silent words.

"Oh, how rude of me," Rin said, turning to face the karakasa. "I didn't introduce myself yet. Name's Rin Kaenbyou, but you can call me Orin, sis. Me and Okuu are the two managers around here, so we handle training new employees like yourself."

"Pleased to meet you, Orin."

"Likewise."

* * *

><p><strong>Not much later; Satori's office…<strong>

"I see your uniform fits well," Satori complimented. "Are you ready to start training?"

"Yes," Kogasa said eagerly. "What am I doing first?"

"Well, for starters, you need to know what kind of job you're getting. I intend to hire you here as an attendant, meaning you'll be catering to the guests we have. Orin here will be training you; Okuu is busy training our new cook. Training will begin immediately, and I've invited an acquaintance of mine to the resort, as well as a friend she's brought along. You'll be personally taking care of them, and no other attendant will be helping you aside from Orin if you get overwhelmed."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Not quite, sis," Orin said. "Sure, the job's easy, but remember that you're only dealin' with two people here. If we hire you, you'll be responsible for every guest we have just like everybody else here."

"Right."

"We'd better not keep them waiting; honest as they are, I haven't met an oni known for patience."

"I-I'm catering to an oni!"

"Relax, Yuugi's real cool and she knows not to pick on the folks here or Satori will wipe her brain clean for a bit."

* * *

><p><strong>Hot springs in the back of the resort…<strong>

"So this is your new girl," Yuugi asked. Placing a hand to her chin, the oni said "I dunno. She seems kinda…short."

"You're just tall," her friend said angrily. "She's the exact same height as me, Yuugi, if not a bit taller!"

"Alright, Parsee, I hear you. Well, since you're the new attendant, how about you run over and get us some sundaes?"

"No cherry on mine," Parsee added. "They're too damn…bright red."

"You've got it," Kogasa said. "Two sundaes and one with no cherries!"

"Oh, and get some drinks too. I'll have some wine," Parsee requested.

"And a nice strong drink of sak for me," Yuugi said with a bit more power than she intended, causing one or two other guests to turn their heads for a brief moment.

"I'm on it," Kogasa said. And with that, she sped off back into the building to get what the two wanted. She'd done plenty of searching around yesterday to familiarize herself with her new settings, and by now knew where most things were.

"…Yuugi, are you sure she'll do a good job?"

"I'm sure of it," the oni said to her bridge princess of a companion. "She's bright and cheery; just the kind of girl Satori wants for this job."

"She's too carefree," Parsee said, obviously jealous of how relaxed the karakasa was. "It's almost like she takes this all to be some kind of game."

"Orin's the same way. That's probably why Satori put the two together for Kogasa's training."

"It's because Utsuho's training their new cook. I talked with Satori while you were sleeping in and she filled me in on how everybody's doing around here."

"Really? Fill me in later."

"I'm back," Kogasa said, holding out two trays. One had two sundaes on them, one of which didn't have any cherries. On the other tray was two glasses, both of which were filled with the respective drinks Parsee and Yuugi requested.

"Good job," Yuugi said. "The sake didn't even drop." Then she took the sundae with the cherries, and asked "You know Satori's gonna change your training up a bit tomorrow, right?"

"Huh?"  
>"She's right," Parsee said, taking her wine and sundae, and giving herself a small sip of the drink. "Aside from the hot springs, the Komeiji Hot Springs Resort is most famous because the attendants here always know exactly what the customer wants."<p>

"Really, now?" Then she suddenly remembered; Orin explained how it worked on the way to Satori's office!

_"She reads the thought of a customer who wants something, and she manipulates an attendant's conscious mind to alert them to it. The system works great!"_

So Satori was going to alert her mind to what Yuugi and Parsee wanted…interesting. That would probably take a bit of getting used to, but surely Kogasa would be able to adjust to somebody putting thoughts in her head.

"Have a seat," Yuugi insisted.

"Are you serious," Kogasa and Parsee asked in unison. Then the bridge princess continued "She has work to do! She can't just grab a seat and chill out with us, Yuugi. Besides, didn't you invite another friend of yours over?"

"Oh yeah," Yuugi said, remembering that invitation. "But Kogasa only has to cater the two of us; three if my pal shows up before she finishes training. Although if I remember, you and Suika got along fine."

"Really, now? And how did you figure that one?"

"Because she's the one person you don't have breast envy for," Yuugi said with a tone of humor. And even the solid punch to the oni's arm didn't quell her laughter. Joking about Suika's flatness was fun, but as entertaining as it was today, the best part was usually seeing the reactions of the tsurupettan herself. "I'm kidding, Parsee! You've gotta learn to take a joke."

"All you do is joke," Parsee scolded. "_You_ need to learn that not everything is some game that you can just play and expect that everything will be the same at the end of the day!"

"Um…" A little unnerved by Parsee's anger and Yuugi's calm and playful reactions to it, Kogasa asked "Are you sure you two want me to stick around?"

"Sure," the oni happily said, taking a sip of sake. "It kinda helps if you're around when our drinks run out; that way you can get right on it when we run out."

* * *

><p><strong>Late that night; Room 416...<strong>

Kogasa laid back in her bed. Today was a long day of catering to the wishes of Yuugi and Parsee, and tomorrow it'd be done via Satori alerting her mind to their requests. "It's not bad at all," Kogasa said to herself, staring up at the ceiling in some pajamas that were waiting for her in the room. The karakasa figured that Satori had an attendant put them in the room. Now that she was on the receiving end of the service, Kogasa could certainly see why this place was so great for recreation.

"Not bad at all…I think it'll be nice to work here." It was a shame that Koishi wasn't back yet; Kogasa's memory was depending on her to come back as soon as possible. And then there was part of her that didn't want to know her past; it allowed for easy construction of a new future. But what if something important was in those missing memories?

She'd just have to find out when Koishi got back. For now, Kogasa closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Kind of a dull ending, eh? I need to figure out some kind of fun plot to put the two through (Kogasa and Koishi, that is) like some kind of incident probably. In fact, this might actually end up overshadowing the RumiaKogasa fic I'm writing for those who enjoy that fanfic as well.**

**Wow, I went from having nothing for months on this fic to getting two chapters done in a day. *pats self on back* good job, UnendingEmpire, you've done yourself proud :D**

**Oh, remember when I said a certain someone wouldn't appear? I may have lied ;)**


	4. Chapter 4: The Decision

**This chapter has a bit of the feel of the first chapter for a little bit toward the end, but otherwise I can't think of anything to say.**

**Other than I appear to have fallen in love with the song Super Survivor.**

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><p><em>KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!<em>

"Come in," Kogasa called to whoever was knocking on her door. "I just got into my uniform."

The door opened, and in stepped four girls. The first one in was Satori, looking as usual with a small smile on her face. Right behind her was Orin, wearing her green and blue kimono, followed by a slightly taller girl in a similar kimono. Utsuho's kimono had a hole in the front to make room for her "third eye" and the back of the kimono had two holes to accommodate her massive black wings, one of which was currently wrapped around the fourth member of the crew. She looked enough like Satori, but a bit shorter and with a different-colored outfit and the addition of a black hat. "I hear you've been waiting on me," Koishi said.

"Then you must be Koishi; Satori's little sister."

"That's me," the younger sister said, having a seat on Kogasa's bed. "Satori told me what's wrong, but there's one itty-bitty issue about finding those memories. Sure, lost memory can usually be found in the subconscious mind; my specialty, but your memory is, well…gone. Completely. I can't find it; your old memories are more gone than an ice cream cone dropped in the nuclear furnace."

"Wh…What?"

"Oh, but I did find a couple things! Yes, I was able to find a few memories down there; Satori and I are gonna start working on moving them from the subconscious to the conscious parts of your brain. It may take a bit, and you have to stay near us for the time it takes."

"For the time being," Satori added to Koishi's explanation. "I want you to stay here with us, in this room. When it's time to get back to your training, I'll be sure to let you know."

"Alright…"

* * *

><p><strong>Fifteen minutes later…<strong>

"I remember," Kogasa shouted suddenly. Satori and Koishi had managed to restore whatever memories were left. Just now did it all hit her. That eggplant umbrella left to the door was most certainly hers; Kogasa was a karakasa born of that exact umbrella. An outline of the story of how she became a karakasa flooded her mind, as well as some of the events that occurred when she was such. Her fight against Sanae…Sanae! Now her head was a jumble of mixed signals; the "old" Kogasa was terrified of her but the "new" Kogasa wanted to be her friend! Prey or friend?

"You're troubled," Satori said. "I can't blame you with those different impressions of Sanae in your head at the same time. Tell you what. Koishi and I can force your memories down to your subconscious together and she can remove them completely at that point; if you want us to, we'll wipe out every memory from before that lightning bolt hit you, minus the knowledge that you're a karakasa."

"I, um…"

"Don't rush yourself. Take some time to think about it. For now, go see Yuugi and Parsee; the two are in the hot springs, and I explained the situation of you not being there earlier."

"Alright." With that, the karakasa set out to continue her training.

* * *

><p>"Sounds like a tough call," Yuugi said as she was handed some sake. Kogasa had explained her situation and that she was given the choice to wipe most of her memory. "As an oni, I've lived for plenty of time, so memories are worth a lot to me. But you seem pretty young for a youkai…Parsee, what do you think?"<p>

"I think she's lucky," Parsee said in jealousy. "I wish _I_ could have my memory wiped."

"You don't mean that," Yuugi teased.

"Yes I do!"

"But what about all those times when I did something and you'd giggle and say 'Yuugi darling, you just made my day' that you'd forget about?"

The green-eyed monster turned red all over from Yuugi's witty remark. She was just a walking Christmas show now! "…point taken." Downing the rest of her wine, the bridge princess looked to Kogasa with sincerity and said "Look, Kogasa, Yuugi's right. You'll still have all your memories from after the lightning strike, so it's not like you'll forget why you're here or anything." Holding out her glass, Parsee said "For now though, I need more wine."

"Right on it," the karakasa said duly. Yuugi, Parsee, Orin, and even Satori were all telling Kogasa that she was doing a great job so far, but she was rather modest about how well she worked. She figured her abilities to be just about average, if not a bit above it. "Thanks for the advice."

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><p><strong>That night; Room 416…<strong>

"I see you made a choice," Satori said. "Koishi and I will start working on it while you're asleep. When you wake up tomorrow morning, almost all of your memories from before you were hit by lightning will be gone entirely; even from your subconscious. The only memories we're going to spare are why you're a karakasa and how you became one, as well as your identity. We're also going to strengthen the memory of you specifically choosing to have your memory wiped so that we don't have this conversation again in the future. Now then, get some sleep. Tomorrow we begin part two of your training, which Orin explained to you already, and Yuugi has a friend coming down tomorrow to join her and Parsee for a few days."

"Suika?"

"That's her. I think three people is a nice load to train yourself on, don't you agree?"

"Two is a bit easy, so three is fine!"

"Excellent. Good night, Kogasa."

* * *

><p><strong>The following morning…<strong>

Kogasa's eyes opened to the ceiling above her. Today her training would continue, and Yuugi was having her friend show up today. And most importantly, Satori wasn't lying yesterday; Kogasa couldn't remember a thing from between becoming a karakasa and being struck by lightning. Her past was gone, and Kogasa wanted it to stay that way; she must have wanted her memory wiped out for a reason. Now then, off to training…

The first order hit her mind. So this was what it was like to have a thought inserted into your head…it felt kind of like an unexpected slap to the face, only without the pain. Just a sudden impact. That was probably something the karakasa could learn to handle, but getting used to it would probably take some time. The part that surprised even her, however, was that it was from Satori herself!

_I need to see you. Something's not right around here, and I should have noticed it earlier. You're not a suspect, so don't worry yourself. Please see me as soon as you're in uniform._

* * *

><p><strong>Not long after…<strong>

"What's the matter?" Whatever it was, it must have been important for Satori to contact her like this. Or maybe that was just Kogasa misjudging either the situation or Satori. Whichever possibility it was, if Satori said it was a problem, it was a problem.

"The matter is that somebody in this resort is up to something, but whoever it is knows who I am and that I can read minds. The culprit has been able to repel my efforts to learn their identity and intentions by clouding the vision of my third eye around them and by creating diversions with some form of magic. All I know is that they are here, and that they have something against me; the only pieces of the culprit's plan I can pick up on involve hurting either myself, my family, or my employees."

"Why not close the resort?"

"Because that may be exactly what they want. For the time being, Koishi and I have to get away from this place, and all my pets that work here, save Orin and Okuu who insist on staying here against my concern for their safety, have already dispersed at my orders. I'll have word get out when things are back under control here."

"Wait, what's this got to do with me?"

"I tend to worry about Koishi when she wanders alone. Given the light of things, I most certainly don't want her going anywhere else alone, and since I also worry about how things could turn out if the two of us were to stick together, I want you to accompany Koishi on her travels to…wherever it is she plans on going. If you're able to handle this until I get things back under control here, you'll have proven yourself more than worthy for employment here, not because of skills or courage, but because I'll know that I can trust you."

"W-Well, I need a job and all…" But was Satori for real? Kogasa and Koishi had simply shared a few words yesterday, and then the latter helped wiped the karakasa's mind while she was asleep. "I have a choice, right?"

"Of course. I can't force you to do anything, and I despise manipulating the minds of others beyond alerting my employees to the requests of the customers more than anything else. You can choose to not do this, and while I can't force you, I can warn you that not accepting this request may have an impact on how easy I find it to hire you." Satori leaned forward in her chair a little bit, and said "The choice is entirely yours, of course, so please choose within the next few seconds; the sooner Koishi and I are out of here, the better."

"…I'll do it."

"I'm pleased to hear that, Kogasa. Koishi will be waiting for you at the front desk. Don't be fooled if you see somebody else instead; simply say that I sent you and Koishi will show herself before long."

"Yes, ma'am." And so Kogasa got up, and started to head out. It was a shame that she'd gotten here just the other day, and that now when she was in the prime of having a good time training here, she had to leave. At the very least, it would land her a solid spot for employment. Not that she was doing it just for that! Far from it! Also because it was the right thing to do, and surely she and Koishi would become good friends in the time it took for Satori to reclaim stability and order at her resort. Part of Kogasa had to worry about the customers, though. And Orin and Okuu were probably going to be the only two folks left, so what would happen there? Just the two of them would have to deal with every customer here, and even that would be without Satori there to let them know what those customers wanted!

They were probably going to have a tough time, but for now Kogasa had to worry about her own duties…

* * *

><p>…<strong>yeah, I still have nothing to say. I'm half-awake so my brain isn't in full gear :|<strong>


	5. Chapter 5: The Karakasa's New Home

**Sorry for the delay, but I promise this adorable chapter is completely worth it!**

**If I didn't mention my recent keyboard crisis, I bought a new keyboard 3-5 days ago, because the one I had before broke, and I spent two weeks (roughly) with no keyboard! Which meant I couldn't write! My muse was crashed, but it's slowly coming back to me now. Before long, I'm sure I'll be back to the daily updates (excluding Sunday, of course) that you all love to see from me.**

**That may sound a bit like I'm tooting my own horn, but I know you're always waiting for that next chapter; everybody's either said or implied it at least once. Those are the reviews that keep me going; the fuel to the wondrous train of thought that can only be conducted by me, and boarded by those with the mentality to comprehend my work. I say you're all lucky to be able to board my train :D**

* * *

><p>Kogasa and Koishi stepped outside, only to be met with a third face. A face that Kogasa had seen more than Koishi; a green-haired one in blue and white clothes. "Hey there, Sanae! Good morning."<p>

"Morning," Sanae greeted back. "I just decided to stop by and see how you were doing; I was a bit worried about leaving you here with no memories. Did you get your answers?"

"Yes and no. My memory was restored, but I insisted on wiping them back out again. I can't really remember why, though."

"…" So that was it, then. Kogasa would never remember Sanae for the prolific youkai hunter that she was. But now that Kogasa had been so warm and friendly to her…the miko was very sorry for all the times she'd hunted and killed the karakasa, and decided right then to stop hunting youkai…or at least, stop hunting Kogasa. Her new pink kimono looked very cute on her, Sanae told herself as she looked at Kogasa. "Well, I'm glad you sorted yourself out. What brings you out here, though? I thought you were getting a job here."

"I still am, but Satori said something was wrong around the resort, so she needs me to take Koishi away from here for a little bit. So I've gotta take her somewhere safe…does your shrine have a couple of spare beds?"

"You won't need them," Satori said, stepping outside with two small boxes in her hands. "No employee from outside my mansion ever passed this test. You're hired, Kogasa. Your real work begins tomorrow. For today, do anything important; you're going to be working five days a week for at least ten hours a day, and even that's in a standard situation."

"What's with the boxes?"

"Oh, don't mind me. Please, continue your conversation with Sanae. We can come back to little old me later."

"If you say so…" Kogasa turned back to Sanae, and said "Hey, thanks a lot for bringing me here. I didn't really know anything, and I was scared and confused, but that all cleared up by the end of the day because you went out of your way to help me. You're a great friend, Sanae."

"!" Friend? That wasn't something Sanae expected to hear. She was surprised; anybody would have been able to see it. "W-Well…I'm glad you think so."

"Ha-ha-ha! Look how surprised you are, Sanae! Looks like I'm getting the hang of this whole karakasa deal, doesn't it?" Getting out the last of her proud and amused laughter, Kogasa asked "Hey, maybe you'd like to hang out here for a couple days? My room came with bed space for two people, and if you're a friend, I'm sure Satori wouldn't mind you staying free of charge for a couple days. Right, Satori?"

"I would expect her to pay like every other customer, but short of that, I have no objections," the satori said, a smile working across her face to see the scene in front of her. "I'd be glad to have the Moriya shrine maiden over. So long as she renounces that human-exclusive career of hers. The last thing I'd need is my customers on edge."

"You're serious," Sanae asked, getting more and more shocked and surprised by the second. "Well, it used to mostly be about one person, so…s-sure, I guess I can quit, beginning immediately…why not? It might be a nice new chapter in my life."

"I'm sure it will. Now then, the boxes." Holding one each out to Kogasa and Sanae, Satori said "One for each of you. In Kogasa's box is her first paycheck - worth 30,000 yen - and a few other things, namely assorted sweets to welcome her to the family. In Sanae's, the key to Room 416 where Kogasa is living, a brochure for the Komeiji Hot Springs Resort to take home with her, and assorted chocolates; I understand girls from the outside world like chocolates as presents."

"The chocolate thing is pretty true," Sanae said, looking at the contents of her box. They sure looked tasty… Wait, this was no time to be thinking about chocolate! Satori said she still had to pay. "I guess I'll stick around for…oh, how about three nights?"

"Excellent. The rate for Room 416 is 10,000 yen per night, so multiply that by three nights, and I'll be needing 30,000 yen before you get comfy, please."

"Okay…" Sanae felt around for her wallet. She…Sanae paled once she realized it. She left her wallet at home! "U-Uh…I kinda don't have my wallet…w-well, on me at the moment. I-If I could just head home, and…"

"I've got this," Kogasa said, handing Satori her paycheck. It still brought a smile to her face that she was being paid so well to work here; obviously Satori had plenty of money to spare. "30,000 yen for my good friend Sanae to stay in my room for three nights, Miss Satori. But while my paycheck is the center of attention, why am I getting paid the day before I start working?"

"You aren't," Satori said wittily, putting the paycheck in her pocket. "Not a single yen."

"Really? Then why…_oh_." Wow. Satori saw all of this coming? No. Frigging. Way. "I bet that's why you're in charge here."

"And other reasons as well. Now then, you two go get comfortable; Kogasa has work tomorrow, but she'll be off on Sunday." Satori had decided that Sunday and Wednesday would be Kogasa's two days off. They were a fair distance from each other, and she was generally a bit overstaffed on those days anyway, so all the better.

* * *

><p><strong>Room 416…<strong>

"Wow," Sanae said in awe as the karakasa opened the door to this majestic-looking room. "_This_ is where you're living now?"

"Surprised?"

"Very surprised, Kogasa. How the hell do you afford this?"

"Miss Satori was letting me stay here for free," the karakasa explained, stepping into the bathroom and taking off her kimono. "Now that I've got the job, she's going to charge me half the regular rate for this place and just deduct it from my paychecks. That means I've got 35,000 yen chopped off my paychecks if I get paid by the week. It must be a pretty big paycheck for there to still be anything left after that, huh?" Kogasa stepped back out in a set of light blue set of raindrop-pattern pajamas, smiling brightly. Her hair was growing a little longer and was styled in a slightly spiky style nowadays; her new look was a very fun one, Kogasa figured. "There should be an attendant here soon enough with some PJ's for you; Satori's just gotta look in your head for your measurements and favorite color. Have you ever _seen_ this resort's laundry room?"

"Is it big?"

"Let me put it this way. There's two rooms beneath this resort, and in total it comes out to about the size of this entire floor. One of the rooms is where all the breakers and other maintenance stuff I couldn't figure out was, and it's about as big as my bathroom. The laundry room is the other. Satori has pajamas for every possible combination of measurements, colors, designs, and whether a customer prefers PJ's or nightgowns. In short, whatever your ideal pajamas are, Satori has them in the resort's laundry room; she keeps three sets of everything just in case, too. I'm guessing, for you…green?"

"Yep. Green PJ's with star patterns for me." And sure enough, just as she said that, there was a knocking at the door. And even more sure enough, Sanae opened the door to find an attendant holding the very pajamas Sanae was thinking about. "Thank you," Sanae said as she closed the door. Stepping into the bathroom herself, Sanae said "So you'll be doing this kind of stuff for folks from now on? Getting their dream jammies, and all sorts of other things when they're just thinking, hey, it'd be cool if this-or-that request happened."

"That's what I'm getting paid for," Kogasa said as Sanae stepped back out. A perfect fit. That could be said for both Kogasa's PJ's and for Sanae's as well. There was a reason this resort was five stars, and the legendary service was a huge part of it. Today was really shaping up to be awesome, thanks in a large part to Satori. Kogasa made a mental note to thank her.

_You're welcome,_ Satori's voice rang in her head. Satori being able to pop in or out of her head at any given time was still going to take a bit of getting used to.

"So," Sanae asked. "You're happy with your new life down here?"

"Very! Former Hell is a fun place with all sorts of interesting people in it, and it's fun to see how they get along with each other. There are folks down here who get along great, and some don't like each other. However it turns out, people down here are real interesting, even if being a karakasa in an oni's land is a little bit unnerving sometimes." There was no doubting that if any particular type of youkai owned Former Hell, it was the oni. They were all over the Former Capitol, and a lot of the guests here seemed to be oni as well, or the friends of oni. They were kind of like Former Hell nobility from Kogasa's view, and they were real fun people for nobles. "Life down here's going to be great, I can just tell!"

"I'm glad you're so sure about it. I'll definitely have to come down every now and again and see how you're doing since Former Hell is such a crazy place." The Moriya miko laid back on the large bed with the blue sheets. Were they blue because Kogasa was staying in this room? Or were they always that color? "I've gotta say, you can't have this kind of luxury in a shrine, even if you try. The bedrooms are a bit too small for this kind of stuff." It was good to take some time off from being a shrine maiden, probably. She wouldn't have to be Sanae the shrine maiden anymore; she could just breathe and be Sanae the girl.

"Yeah; I remember seeing your room. Everything after the lightning bolt I remember, but everything between becoming a karakasa and waking up in your shrine is a huge blank." Laying herself down next to Sanae (much to the miko's surprise) Kogasa asked "So, you said we knew each other before I lost my memory, right?"

"Yeah…" Sanae didn't want to share the truth anymore. Now that she was really getting to know who Kogasa was as a person, Sanae was sorry she ever hunted the karakasa. She was like a ball of sunlight and optimism, lighting up her trail with that undying smile of hers; acting as a beacon of warm sunlight even on the rainiest days.

"So tell me, how _exactly_ did we know each other back then?"

"We were…well, we ran into each other a lot."

"That's it?" Poking Sanae's cheek a little bit, Kogasa taunted "I know you're hiding something from me~"

"I'd really rather not share it. We didn't get along well like we do now."

"If you really value it being secret _that much_…" Kogasa turned and faced the ceiling. It seemed that this room changed a little bit every day; her ceiling wasn't painted to the likeness of the night sky last time she was in it. "Someday, though, I'd really like to know. But I'd better get some sleep; my first day of real work is tomorrow. Night, Sanae."

"Good night, Kogasa."

* * *

><p><strong>Bet you didn't see the Satori scene coming, eh?<strong>

**It was inspired a bit by Functioning Alcoholic; one of my favorite fanfics on this entire website. In fact, if you pay attention, quite a few things here were inspired by it. Kogasa's job and location of employment, the Satori scene with the boxes, the karakasa's charming bubbly personality…**

**I bet Solblight would be happy if he/she were reading this fanfic. I'd be happy to know that Solblight was happy to read my works, too! The two authors I look up to most (and this refers to EVERY AUTHOR IN THE WORLD, excluding ZUN) are Solblight and TakerFoxx, and maybe you can see a little bit of both their styles in my own writing, as well as the Touhou-esque flavor I've been said to deliver in my works.**

**What do you think?**


	6. Chapter 6: The Super Special Day

**Out of all the fanfics I'm in the process of writing, this is probably my favorite one personally. Kogasa and Sanae are both up there as some of my favorite characters, but the pairing of the two isn't nearly as high in proportion to the characters on my list. Indeed, my favorite pairing (right now) is the crack-pairing of Yoshika x Nue.**

**But this story isn't about them.**

**I've apparently gotten my fire back, so now it's only a matter of getting my pace back. Personally, I think it's lethargy, since I don't really do much these days. Hopefully, soon I'll get that GED (yeah, the one I was talking about WAYYYY back in Poisonous Chinese Tea? Still haven't gotten it, wtf) and then I can get further schooling, maybe with a literature major!**

**Ho-ho, do you have any idea what I would be capable of with a lit major? I'd either ascend to entirely new levels of writing…or the way I'm taught will collide with my current style and I'll crash and burn, taking all my fanfics with me.**

**Let's hope for the first one~**

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><p>"Mmm…" Sanae didn't want to wake up just yet. This bed was very comfy, and the blanket was really soft. "Ten more minutes," she said groggily to herself. "Ten more minutes should be fine…"<p>

**Two hours later…**

"Mmm…what time is it?" Sanae's eyelids slowly gave way to let her look at the clock to discover…it was already eleven in the morning! "Yikes!" The green-haired miko leapt out of bed and sprinted into the bathroom to get her morning hygiene stuff out of the way. She was supposed to be up almost two hours ago! "Ten more minutes," Sanae frantically and sarcastically mumbled to herself, brushing her teeth rapidly. "Ten more minutes, she says. It'll be fine, she says." It wasn't fine at all. She was supposed to see Kogasa before she started working. If she hadn't gone back to sleep, she would have caught the karakasa for a good five minutes before her job officially started, but by now she was probably in high gear at work.

"At least she works _here_," Sanae assured herself, slipping into a dark green kimono that had been left in the bathroom for her. This had to be part of the Komeiji Hot Springs Resort's legendary service. Now that she could see for herself what this service was like, Sanae understood why staying here was far from cheap. The kimono was a perfect fit, just as she could expect from a resort of this caliber. She had to go find Kogasa.

_Rumble…_ But before anything else, breakfast. There weren't any cabinets or refrigerators in the room, so breakfast must have been served in the lobby. What kinds of breakfasts were served here, Sanae wondered. Japanese? Continental? Western? Or perhaps some kind of bizarre food native to Gensokyo that she'd yet to have stumbled upon, or possibly food found only here in Former Hell! Only one way to find out. Off to the lobby!

* * *

><p><strong>Lobby…<strong>

"Right away, sir," Kogasa said cheerfully, bowing a little bit in respect to the customer. Kogasa's real work started today, and Satori had her on lobby duty. Other attendants said that lobby work during breakfast time was highly enviable; people always tipped the attendants as though they were waitresses, Kogasa had been told. It was true; off of five parties of customers (varying from one to three in size) she'd built up a good 6000 yen in tips. This particular man had asked for a refill on his drink. Just as Kogasa turned to go fill the drink back up, she saw a friendly face come down the stairs in a stunning green kimono. "Sanae! Good morning. Make yourself comfy and I'll be right with you, alright?" Pointing to a small table next to Sanae, the karakasa said "There are menus there, unless you'd rather me surprise you."

"Hey there, Kogasa. Do what you've gotta do, no rush." Sanae picked up a menu and made herself comfortable in a seat at a table near the hot springs. Everybody in this room was looking at her kind of edgy-like, meaning they probably who she was and what she used to be. But she had sworn off youkai hunting, so their glances and glares meant nothing to her at all. She'd quit the career thanks to Kogasa, who was now coming back through with somebody's refilled drink.

Then the karakasa started making her way to Sanae's table. "Good morning," Kogasa said with a beaming smile and joy that seemed to radiate over to Sanae. "I hope you like the kimono. I picked it out myself."

"Th-Thank you…it's perfect."

"So, have you been enjoying your stay so far?"

"Loving it."

"Great. What do you want for breakfast? Okuu's cooking today, so go nuts if you want to…" Then it struck Kogasa that saying that might not have been the best idea; some people had taken her up on that offer and made Okuu's morning much harder. "Wait, I take that back; she's the only cook on duty this morning, so try not to pressure her _too_ much."

"Ha-ha, alright. Well, what kinds of breakfasts do you serve?"

"Didn't you look in the menu?"

"Nah." Handing the menu to Kogasa, Sanae said "I figured I'd rather let you surprise me with a breakfast of your choice."

A red eye and a blue one seemed to sparkle when Sanae said that, and with menu in hand, Kogasa enthusiastically asked "What kinds of foods do you like?"

"Spicy ones, and things not usually eaten in Japan."

"Right! I'll get Okuu right on it!" Kogasa already knew exactly what to give Sanae. It would be the perfect surprise, and she didn't even need any konjac to do it! Kogasa set the menu back down to where it was before, and stepped into the kitchen, grabbing the trays with the breakfasts of a pair of guests that had asked for simple continental breakfasts. French toast and eggs, which was far from what Kogasa had planned for Sanae. "Okuu, we've got a party of one up. She said she wanted…"

* * *

><p><em>This is a pretty neat place,<em> Sanae thought to herself. Between being delivered her dream pajamas, getting a beautiful kimono to wear for the duration of her stay, and being served a surprise breakfast by the karakasa who had recently become her newest friend, her stay here had been nothing short of something like a dream. And she would still be here tomorrow, too! But then she'd have to leave the following day, which kind of upset her. Sanae really liked it here, but she wasn't about to abandon the Moriya Shrine so that she could hang out down here and maybe get a job. Doing that wasn't really the best thing she could do, far from it. The shrine was, in Sanae's mind, one of the few things she really had. She had plenty of things other than the shrine to call home, but as long as she was happy letting her mind run in the way it did, she could care less how inaccurate her perception of the world was. That philosophy didn't work so well in the outside world, but here in Gensokyo, it worked perfectly.

"Hi there," Kogasa said, stepping up to Sanae's table with a tray in hand. "Breakfast is served~"

"Oh, thank you!"

"Figured I'd surprise you. I'm sure you don't mind, right?"

"Let's see what you picked out…" A tortilla, a banana, and a side of beans. "Mexican food?"

"M-hm. It's not usually eaten in Japan as far as I know, and there's jalapeño peppers in the tortilla to make it spicy! I also had Okuu dip the beans in a spicy sauce. So, anything to drink? Maybe some water to wash down all the spiciness?"

"Some water would be excellent, please."

"You've got it. One glass of water, coming right up." And like a pink-clad bullet, Kogasa sped off back into the kitchen, barely dodging a customer as they came down the stairs and just as nearly falling over when she practically leapt out of the way. And just as Kogasa reached for the door, _SLAM!_ It opened right into her face with enough force to knock the karakasa right to her feet.

And stepping out from behind that door was none other than one of the managers of the resort. Rin Kaenbyou, in her green and blue kimono of a uniform. "Oh, hey there," she said, holding a hand out to Kogasa. On the other hand was resting a rather large tray, this one with a steel dome hiding the contents. "Didn't see you there, sis. Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Kogasa took the hand and got back up to her feet. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Exactly like you said it should be."

"Awesome. Mind if I deliver it personally?" The karakasa kept her voice low so that nobody else could hear the conversation. She didn't want to spoil the surprise after all. Anybody who was able to track all of her activity throughout the morning (that is to say, somebody like Satori) would know that Kogasa had gone to a lengthy amount of trouble to set all this up.

"Go for it; Miss Satori said you'd probably want to, so have at it."

"Alright. Could you go get a-"

"Glass of water for Sanae?" One of Orin's ears twitched a little in the direction of the tray, and the kasha said "In there."

"Even the employees get treated to the resort's legendary service! I love it here~" Kogasa took the large tray in hand and made her way to Sanae's table. Just as she set the tray down, everybody who was eating their breakfast got up to their feet and started applauding. Yes, Kogasa had gone to quite a bit of trouble to make sure this was the best start to not only her officially working here, but Sanae's two-day visit to the resort as well. With a lift of the tray, a near-explosion of bright colors and little flames came into vision for all to see! What now sat in front of Sanae was a white cake with blue linings, and three bright green words written on the front in delicious icing, with a icing-drawing of Sanae on one side and Kogasa on the other. Even though the drawings may have taken the role on accident, the words were meant to be the real attention-grabbers, surrounded by some striking blue candles.

Happy Birthday Sanae!

"H-How'd you know?" Sanae went a brighter red than Orin's hair, brighter than Kogasa's eye, even brighter than the clothes worn by Gensokyo's other shrine maiden. She usually didn't make a big deal out of her birthday, and she hadn't told anybody here about it. So how did Kogasa know that today was her birthday?

"Satori told me all about it, and yesterday I went to see Okuu after you fell asleep about getting it baked this morning, so you had fresh out-of-the-oven birthday cake! I told everybody in this room that it was your birthday, and to clap when I brought you the cake. For a minute, I was afraid everybody else had forgotten about it. Go on, make a wish! In the outside world, some might say it's just a formality, but here in Gensokyo - the world of magic and dreams - it's bound to come true!"

The red on Sanae's face paled a little bit, but it didn't subtract from the brightness at all. Kogasa went to all this trouble just to wish her a happy birthday? The miko found herself soon crying little tears of joy; never before had a single person put this much effort toward Sanae's birthday. Even Kanako, even Suwako Moriya herself didn't go to this much trouble over Sanae's birthday! She usually tried to not act like it was anything special because people in the outside world didn't really like her and gave her extra trouble on her birthday, but Kogasa had, in a matter of seconds, just about made up for any bad things Sanae could think about relating to her birthday. "Thank you…thank you so much." Sanae leaned in toward the cake, and thought of a wish. Take a deep breath, and…blow out. A number of candles were just blown out in one shot, and the applause in the room rose to a crescendo.

"Happy birthday," Kogasa cheered. "Happy birthday!"

* * *

><p><strong>Sticking with the theme of birthdays, yesterday was my mother's birthday. We had vanilla cake with chocolate icing, though my favorite is ice cream cake personally~<strong>

**Also with the birthday theme, I'll be getting some birthday money from my great-grandmother soon (even though my birthday was back in March) and I'll use it to buy an mp3 player, so that I can listen to music wherever I go :D**

**And then depending on how much I have left after that, I'm gonna either figure it out from there, or blow it all on Mike & Ike's and Mountain Dew. I'm fine with either conclusion, since I'll reach the "blow it on candy and soda" part either way after a couple purchases. Or if I knew somebody with a credit card, I'd get a Mima figurine or something imported from Japan. Although, that's more something I'd like to have somebody buy me for my birthday instead of buying it myself.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Past on Sanae's Mind

***train whistle***

**All aboard, ladies and gentlemen! I finished this chapter literally less than an hour after the previous one, though one scene toward the end may subtract from the value of this chapter.**

**Or maybe it'll add to the humor, depending on your view of it. Either way, regardless of that scene, I'm hoping this is a sign of my pace returning.**

**I think it's sorta a bad scene in a very Psycho Mantis way, for you Metal Gear Solid fans. Just to note, I've never played Metal Gear Solid games before, EVER.**

**But enough about me, though you'll hear from me soon enough~**

* * *

><p><strong>3 years ago; Japan…<strong>

_"I can't believe she's already sixteen," Suwako said, watching Sanae run off to school. "Time sure flies."_

_"I heard that," Kanako said. "Though, humans don't seem to notice how fast it really goes. Maybe because they haven't lived as long as we have."_

_"Yeah, probably."_

* * *

><p><em>"Ah, yes," the teacher said, looking straight at Sanae. Already, the green-haired miko-to-be could tell where this was going, and it wasn't a place she liked at all. "Today is Kochiya's birthday. Hopefully, we won't have a repeat of last year's fiasco. And yes, I'm talking specifically to <em>_**you**__, Kageyama."_

_"You know me better than that," the boy sitting a few seats from Sanae said, the smirk obvious on his face. "Who would be dumb enough to try that again?"_

* * *

><p><em><span>Creak…<span>__ Sanae let off a shriek as she opened her locker to find its interior, complete with a dead and gutted frog nailed to the inside, with an equally deceased snake coiled around it. People knew that frogs and snakes were Sanae's favorite two animals, and this little "gift" was something she got every year. Somebody had gone out of the way to hunt a snake down, kill it, do the same to a frog, and stick the remains inside her locker. Above this little display of macabre art was a birthday card with a Z written on the front. So, he was at it again._

_Plenty of people bullied Sanae around here, but one of them brought it to a whole new level, and always left a Z as evidence. Nobody was quite sure who Z was, but whoever they were, they almost seemed to have something personal against Sanae with the trouble they'd go to just to put a dark spot on an otherwise bright day that would leave her with a gloomy mood to last the rest of the day._

_Great. Z was at it again…_

* * *

><p><em>"Sanae," another student greeted, stepping up to her with a tiny green-wrapped box. "A friend of mine sent me over here to give you this. Happy birthday."<em>

_"Oh, thanks!" Sanae quickly unwrapped it to find a chocolate bar inside. And after the first bite, she cursed herself for falling for this trick once again. It was just frozen mud, though she counted herself lucky to have not swallowed this time. Sometimes the people who did this to her would add nuts to their "chocolate" which Sanae was very allergic to. This year was such an occasion, so she thanked Kanako and Suwako that she didn't swallow._

* * *

><p>"Sanae? Is something…wrong? Is the cake not good? I-I'll go make a new one right away!"<p>

"Huh? Oh, no, the cake looks perfect."

"Something's bugging you, I can tell! Whatever it is, I can fix it probably!"

"You don't have to do that, Kogasa. I was just thinking, back in the outside world, people would bully me without mercy, especially on my birthday."

"Those rotten bastards! I hope they all burn in the new Hell for all eternity!" Kogasa didn't take the time to notice there were children in the room. Kogasa would probably get scolded by Satori later today.

"The only three people in the world who cared were my mom, Kanako, and Suwako, and only two of those people are even left to care. None of them did anything too big for my birthday; we always lived comfortably, but we couldn't spend much extra without winding up in trouble for a while. The most I'd get was a cake from a store and a couple small presents each. Nobody's really gone to this much trouble for my birthday…"

"Hey, we're friends. It's what we do; we go crazy over each other's birthdays and make sure to try and replace all the bad memories with good ones!"

"It's a bit deeper than bad memories."

"Oh?" _Take a short break,_ Satori's voice ringed in the karakasa's head. _It's a very personal matter to Sanae, and she won't discuss it in front of all these people._

_Yes, ma'am. Can we bring the food up with us?_

_Of course. Oh, also, I need to see you in my office whenever you have a spare moment._

"Hey, let's go up to our room for a bit. Don't wanna break the cheery mood with so many people around, you know?"

"Y-Yeah…let's head up." Sanae made her way back up the steps, followed closely by one karakasa balancing two trays in her hands. On one tray was a green, white, and blue birthday cake, and in the other was a tortilla, a banana, some beans, and a glass of water.

* * *

><p><strong>Room 416…<strong>

"So, anything on your mind?" Kogasa set the trays down on a table near the bed, and made herself comfortable on the bed, sitting next to Sanae.

"Well, yeah. The truth it, Kogasa, that when I first met you, I was really caught up in the thrill of youkai hunting. You may not remember it, but with the way you've been such a lively and cheerful friend to me these last couple of days, I can't forget it no matter how badly I want to. I exterminated you, and liked it, and then I kept exterminating you, and kept liking it. The lightning bolt that struck you hit just after you spared my life in a revenge attempt, and you could've easily killed me then if you'd felt like it."

"Hmm, that's pretty heavy."

"Bear with me just a little longer. Between how you spared me then, and how you've been so nice to me since waking up in the Moriya Shrine, especially now with this cake and all this…I'm really, really, _really_ sorry that I ever exterminated you, Kogasa…_really_ sorry."

"Hey, it's fine, isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"It's all in the past, so it's fine! It's kinda strange to think that you and I once got along that way, but it isn't like that anymore, so it's all okay. That's probably why I wanted my memory wiped in the first place; so that I didn't have to be scared of the person who probably saved my life. Wouldn't that be weird, to be scared of your own savior who you thought of as a friend? We're friends now, so it doesn't matter what we were before, as long as the present's all good and well."

"…"

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Kogasa, I'm glad to have you for a friend."

"Really? I'm glad too!" A dark glint cast across Kogasa's eyes as she said that, unbeknownst to Sanae. Her plan was now in motion…

* * *

><p><strong>One peak of friendship later…<strong>

"Wait…I just remembered!" Kogasa stared at Sanae in horror, stepping away slowly. "S-Stay away from me!"

"Wait, Kogasa, come back!" Where had she gone wrong? Was it wrong to try and be Kogasa's friend to begin with? The two had shared so many great experiences together in the months since their friendship began, so just what was wrong? She'd even moved to the Komeiji Hot Springs Resort, sharing Room 416 with Kogasa under the funding of the karakasa herself, thanks in part to raises she'd been getting from being such a great and diligent worker. Time seemed to go by like a blur, and Kogasa soon became Sanae's greatest friend in the world. And now that friend could easily recall all their encounters in which the karakasa had been brutally killed.

"It seems we underestimated her," Satori said apologetically, standing alongside Koishi. "Apparently, aside from being a karakasa with the ability to surprise people, Kogasa's a master at controlling her own thoughts, both conscious and subconscious. I've barely been able to piece it together, and even then during her sleep, but it seems as though she planned this all out from the start for revenge."

"To break my heart by faking friendship, and throwing it away in an instant?"

"It seems so…"

* * *

><p><strong>Outside world…<strong>

"So," a green-eyed fellow said, sitting on a wooden floor in front of a bright screen. "I hope that shocker wasn't too much. I guess I should probably introduce myself in what's probably the biggest breaking of the fourth wall in the history of my brilliant works. My name is UnendingEmpire, a name I'm sure you're familiar with?" Taking his glasses off and putting an arm of them in his mouth; the one that had been chewed on to the point that one could see the metal beneath the black plastic, he continued "I wanted to see what a bad ending would look like on this bright story, and I was actually considering ending the chapter there and making you believe it was really gonna end that way."

A quick but hearty chuckle, followed by more words. "Of course, I'm gonna ask you to please disregard that above scene; it's just creative juices flowing. The purpose of this scene is to just let y'all know that I'm not ending the fanfic like that, but alas, it seems we're already nearing the end of this chapter. I'd better get back to the story at hand, eh?"

* * *

><p><strong>Back to the story at hand…<strong>

"…"

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Kogasa, I'm glad to have you for a friend."

"Really? I'm glad too!" A bright flash of metaphorical light shot across Kogasa's eyes with those joyous words. Having Sanae for a friend was great, even if the two didn't get along so well back in the day according to the miko herself. "So, should we cut the cake? I can go downstairs and get more drinks if you want."

"Yes, please. I'll start cutting this, and you get the drinks."

"Sure thing. What do you want?"

"…surprise me."

* * *

><p><strong>I had fun writing this chapter, and lots of it. The scene starring myself was especially fun to write, though I tried hard to make it sound like something I'd actually say.<strong>

**I think I did it about right :)**

**The thing about the glasses is completely true, though; the left arm of my glasses have gotten these nicks in them that fit my teeth perfectly, and I usually hold my glasses in my mouth when I'm writing.**

**Or doing most things on a computer, for that matter. Since I'm nearsighted, it gets weird to try and see a close-up screen with the glasses on, but whatever. I still need them to play Touhou, though.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Cook's Mistake

**The eighth chapter. Cool.**

**Although, it seems I usually have a dark stroke in the fifth and/or eighth chapters of my works, and this one's no exception. A new character is introduced for about a second, then the chapter ends on a comparatively dark note for this light fanfic. Maybe instead of trying to keep my happy/fluffy fanfics and my gloom-and-doom fanfics separate, I should try to have fluff in dark fics, and vice versa.**

**Actually, I'm pretty sure I already do that XD**

* * *

><p>"I've gotta hand it to you," Kogasa said happily. "I didn't expect you to taste this good~"<p>

"Not that you were bad yourself or anything…" Sanae couldn't believe Kogasa had just said that. What if there were people listening to their conversation? The miko would probably die of embarrassment or something.

"The icing was the best part."

"I meant to ask, but why did you lick the icing off like that?"

"I always lick off the icing first thing~" And now Kogasa got why Sanae was turning redder and redder with every passing word. Once the reasoning behind the miko's red face struck Kogasa, the karakasa turned a bright red as well. "A-Anyway…I have to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"Where'd you find the knife to cut this cake anyway?" Kogasa pointed out the perfectly sliced cake, with the icing drawings now gone and the words soon to follow. Now that Kogasa thought about what she'd said about Sanae tasting good, she really hoped nobody else heard that. They'd probably get the wrong idea of which Sanae she was talking about, and label her as some kind of sex fiend! That was _not_ how Kogasa wanted her employment here to start!

"I didn't use a knife. I used a small-scale version of one of my spell cards."

"That's our Sanae; she's always got a backup plan!" Kogasa, beaming smile still present, applauded Sanae's resourcefulness, picking up another piece of cake and putting it on her small plate. Her first piece - the piece with the icing drawing of Sanae on it - had _lots_ of sugary icing, and the karakasa loved it!

_KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!_

"Come in," Sanae called.

The door of Room 416 swung open, and in stepped not two, three, or four, but _nine_ people! They were, in order of entering the room, Satori and Koishi Komeiji, Rin Kaenbyou, Utsuho Reiuji, Kanako Yasaka, Suwako Moriya, Yuugi Hoshiguma, Parsee Mizuhashi, and last and least wealthy, Reimu Hakurei.

"I heard there was a party in the resort," the one-horned oni greeted in a dazzling (if somewhat loose) blue kimono. "Satori invited Parsee and I over, and I couldn't say no."

"She also told us where you ran off to," Kanako added. "I was worried sick when you were gone overnight, Sanae."

"O-Oh, right. Sorry, Kanako-sama. It won't happen again."

"Relax," the frog goddess beside her said. "It's good that you're going out and making new friends, especially this friend! M-hm, I say you picked yourself up a real cutie, if I do say so myself. And I do!"

"W-What? No, it's not like that! How much did you hear?"

"All of it. The soft moaning, the conversation…all of it. I guess you thought you picked up a cutie too, huh?"

Sanae's redness of face returned, and multiplied. "D-Don't even think about it like that! That's not what happened, I-I swear!"

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm just kidding! I know, you two were just eating really tasty cake. That's part of why we came down here." Suwako stepped aside, making room for the last few guests to enter. "Sure, it's a little full in here, but isn't that what a party's supposed to be like?"

* * *

><p><strong>One brilliant birthday party later…<strong>

"Have a nice day~" Kogasa shut the door behind the departing guests and her three bosses, and turned around, went up to the bed, and just tossed herself onto it face-first. "Fm gmunm fmmdm…"

"What's that," Sanae asked, laying herself down as well. The party was great, but having it so early really knocked the wind out of the miko…who happened to control wind. Irony.

Kogasa lifted her head off the mattress, and repeated "Too many people…"

"Yeah, I know. But you can't really deny that it was fun."

"Fair enough. You're lucky though, cuz you can just go back to sleep if you want to. Me, I've gotta get…-yawn- get back to work…"

"Can't you take a day off?"

"Nah, it's not something simple like being a lumberjack or a rocket scientist; this is something you really have to stick to the schedule with!"

"How's being a rocket scientist simple? And more importantly, how do _you_ know anything about rocket science?"

"I heard some kappa talking about it at the hot springs yesterday. It sounded simple enough the way they were talking about it…" Maybe Kogasa was underestimating rocket science.

"No way!" That sudden exclamation was completely understandable. Sanae hadn't eaten the chocolates Satori gave her just yet; she'd put them in a mini-fridge present in the room. She wasn't paying much attention to them yesterday, but now that she looked at them again…

"What's up?"

Sanae grabbed a handful of chocolates, and showed Kogasa exactly what was up. They were generally bite-sized things, easily eaten before one could even notice. What caught Sanae's attention were the shapes of the chocolates. Some were S-shaped, like the first letter in Sanae, and some were star-shaped, stars being her favorite shape. There were also some in the shape of a 19 - Sanae's age as of today, and ones with tiny letters spelling out 'Happy Birthday' with a little smiley face at the bottom. Another example of Satori's super-astounding ability to read people, probably. "They're birthday chocolates!"

"So?"

"I got them _yesterday_, and didn't really look at them until today!"

"Whoa…and to think I'm working for somebody like that. That's actually pretty cool!"

"H-Hey…you don't think they put nuts inside these…do you?"

"Let's see now, with or without?" Kogasa started thinking about that one carefully. Maybe Sanae asked because she liked nuts, or maybe she asked because she was allergic. There wasn't really any way for Kogasa to tell unless she asked, but the karakasa felt that wasn't the best thing to ask about no somebody's happiest birthday. So, she went with the answer that felt right to her; how she would have preferred the chocolates. "Nuts add a crunchy and rough texture to the inside of the chocolate, so if I made them, I'd probably put nuts in them."

"D-Don't say that!"

"Hm?"

"I'm allergic!"

"Oh…**OH!** I-I didn't mean it like that, I swear! It's just, I kinda like chocolate with nuts inside, and I wasn't sure if you were allergic or not and I didn't feel like asking you so I just went with the answer that felt right andIdidn'-"

Sanae put a finger over the karakasa's mile-a-second mouth, and said "_Slowly_, repeat that. I lost you about it being the answer that felt right."

"…okay. I wasn't really sure if it was the best idea or not, but I just sorta went with it. Although, now I can't tell if those chocolates have nuts or not." Only one way to find out, though. Kogasa put a hand inside the little box, pulled out a tiny star-shaped chocolate, and popped it in her mouth, chewing away. After swallowing, Kogasa shook her head and said "Nope, no nuts. Dig in!"

"Thanks for checking."

"Don't sweat it. We're friends, remember?" Kogasa turned toward the door a bit, keeping her face fixated on Sanae, and said "Although, I've gotta get back to work. We should save the cake for later; for now you should enjoy the Mexican breakfast I picked out~"

"Yeah, I'll do that."

"Great! Try to find me if you get bored, alright? Bye-bye~"

* * *

><p><strong>Later, hot springs…<strong>

"Of course, sir," Kogasa said, taking on her first complaint. It was about the food she'd served; how the steak wasn't cooked enough. Damn that new guy, messing up on the food! "I'll let the cook who made this know right away," she promised, taking the tray and heading off. At least he tried to be nice about it, though his wife didn't look particularly happy with the way he was looking at her, Kogasa had noted. Was there something wrong between the two? The karakasa didn't really get it, but settled for ignoring the wife's glares at both the man and Kogasa when she first arrived. For now, she had to see the new cook about this undercooked steak!

"Hey," Kogasa called when she stepped into the kitchen. "They said this was a bit undercooked. Mind cooking it a bit more?"

"Hang on," the new cook shouted back, sounding much more frustrated than Kogasa, who wasn't frustrated at all. "Just gotta…fix…this…" _CRASH! CLATTER!_

"Are you alright back there?"

"I'm fine, it barely hurt at all! I'm telling ya, this resort gets way too much traffic for one person to keep up with."

"Maybe that's just you…still, I need this a bit more cooked."

The white-haired cook stuck her head around the corner, the charms in her hair removed for obvious safety reasons. "Alright, hold still…" Mokou's finger pointed at the steak, which for a brief second, burst into flames, just as quickly being extinguished. "There, well-done steak. Where are all the other cooks at, anyway?"

"The others? I'm not sure…they were here when I came to get the food, so…"

_SLAM!_ "Please don't hate me, Kogasa," Utsuho pleaded.

"What? Why would I hate you?"

"W-Well, Sanae came down just a few minutes ago, a-and she ordered the, um, chef surprise pie. A-And, well, I _might _have forgotten to tell her just what was inside it…"

"…" _CRASH!_ The plate in Kogasa's hand hit the floor, shattering. Next thing anybody knew, Kogasa was sprinting out the door as fast as she could.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay, it became a plot device!<strong>

**O-Oh, wait, I'm not happy that Sanae ate something bad for her, of course! Quite the opposite, I'm devastated like Kogasa probably is despite her walking-beacon-of-sunshine personality.**

**You know, there are some people who can portray Kogasa as a slightly more tragic character, but I simply can't imagine Kogasa being anything but optimistic and cheerful all the time.**

**Likewise, I have trouble imagining a Sanae who, while she tries to be positive, she's got a big pessimistic streak in her that comes out now and again. I think that in the way I portray her, Sanae's got a kind of bittersweet melancholy kind of happiness to her. Some people don't like Sanae much because they don't see much development in her.**

**They've obviously never read anything I write that stars Sanae**


	9. Chapter 9: The Hospital

**I believe that I have a new longest scene; the Eientei scene in this that takes up about 75% of this chapter. My usual flare is seen in the words that are exchanged between our bubbly karakasa and her new miko cru-I-I mean, her new friend Sanae, and I even managed to get into some detail about Kogasa's past near the end!**

**That and I think the end is really cute. Overall, probably one of the best chapters I've written ever; certainly the greatest so far in this fanfic.**

**And to think my wallpaper is an adorable yet badass picture of Kogasa strangling Sanae with her umbrella.**

* * *

><p><em>SLAM!<em> Kogasa burst into Satori's office in a full-blown panic, complete with sweating, hyperventilating, and just edginess in general.

"She's at Eientei," Satori said calmly, already knowing the question Kogasa would ask. Even if she couldn't read minds, she'd know that the karakasa would ask where Sanae was. "She's being treated right now, and don't worry; I'll have a word with Okuu later."

And like that, off Kogasa sprinted! She had to get to Eientei! The karakasa just hoped Sanae would be alright.

_Ah, yes,_ Satori's mind added, popping into Kogasa's mind one last time before she burst out of the resort. _The ones you want are sunflowers._

Right, sunflowers. Kogasa knew where to find sunflowers.

* * *

><p><strong>Eientei…<strong>

Long since out of breath from dashing all over Gensokyo, Kogasa stepped into a small hospital room, the only occupant at the time being her good dear friend, Sanae. "I started heading out the second I heard," the karakasa said, taking a seat on the edge of the hospital bed. "Are you alright?"

"The inside of my throat's still a bit swollen, but I'll be okay."

"I brought you sunflowers."

"Thank you," Sanae exclaimed with surprise. Kogasa seemed to have one surprise after another ready. Although…one thing worried Sanae, since these were sunflowers. "Where did you get these exactly?"

"When you brought me to Former Hell, I saw a big patch of sunflowers from your shrine. I took the bunch from there."

"!" Sanae hoped that Kogasa knew exactly what she'd just gotten herself into. "U-Um, do you know who lives there?"

"Nah. I saw a cozy-looking cottage, but nobody seemed to be home. Do these sunflowers belong to that person or something?" Kogasa wouldn't know who the owner of these sunflowers was. She hadn't appeared in Gensokyo until the flower youkai became an extremely rare sight.

"Well, yes…just, if a green-haired youkai with an umbrella comes up to you, scream, turn around, and run. _Fast_." Sanae had never seen her before, but just the stories about her alone were enough to warn the miko that Yuka Kazami was not somebody to be trifled with, and that the flower youkai was somebody best avoided. Whereas Kogasa was a very weak youkai who couldn't really hold her own in most fights. Now that Sanae started thinking about it that way, she got even more worried. Kogasa wouldn't be able to handle being bullied by somebody as intimidating as Yuka. Bullying, was it? "Hey, Kogasa?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me something, would you?"

"Don't worry; Miss Satori already said she'd have a word with Okuu about the nuts in the pie! I promise, we'll never have to worry about having a scare like this again!"

"No, not that."

"I promise I'll be your friend forever and ever?"

"Can I just tell you what I want you to promise me?"

"Alright~"

"Don't ever be like me, alright?"

"Huh? Why wouldn't I wanna be like you?" With her usual sunshine-and-rainbows tone, Kogasa happily continued "You've always got an answer to a problem, and you know all sorts of things about the outside world that almost nobody else does! You're really strong, you speak so many languages perfectly, and you even save the world sometimes! You're so cool, Sanae, so how could I possibly not want to be like you?"

"Not like that. Back in the outside world, people bullied me nonstop, and…I guess, when I realized that youkai weren't able to push me around like the people back in Japan, I went a little over myself and lost my way and became a huge youkai bully, because I could push them around all I wanted and they could never do anything about it. Don't ever be somebody like that, alright? A happy person like you shouldn't bully others."

"A bully? You? Nah, no way!"

"Are you so sure?" If only Sanae could count the number of times she'd exterminated Kogasa; all the run-ins the karakasa would never remember…

* * *

><p><strong>Extermination #1…<strong>

"Crap! I might as well go down to your shrine and mess it up a little!"

"Oh, my. You shouldn't be so self-destructive. If you did that, then I'd _really_ have to exterminate you~"

* * *

><p><strong>Extermination #5…<strong>

"Every time," Kogasa shouted. "It's the same every time!"

"That's right~"

* * *

><p><strong>Extermination #27…<strong>

"Happy Halloween," Sanae teased, the face of one Kogasa Tatara under the boots of her witch costume. _SMASH!_

* * *

><p><strong>Extermination #238…<strong>

Karakasa kabobs? Yummy~

* * *

><p><strong>Extermination #666…<strong>

"That shut her up," a black-robed cultist said happily, after a near-paralyzing punch to Kogasa's stomach.

"Well done. Now let's get on with this sacrifice."

"Of course." Into the sacrificial "tub" the unfortunate karakasa was placed, as the cultist grabbed a knife from a small rack next to the altar. The craftsmanship at hand here, both on the altar and the knife, amazed her. Especially since it was made fully from stone, metal, and the like.

Of course, who else but Suwako Moriya would be able to accomplish this with just power alone? Sanae couldn't think of anybody, as she looked down at the sacrifice. "Do it. Kill her."

_STAB!_

* * *

><p><strong>Extermination #1337…<strong>

_BOOM!_ "Headshot~" The new laser rifle from the kappa worked perfectly!

* * *

><p>"…yeah, maybe I went a bit too far," Sanae said, looking away from Kogasa guiltily. "Especially on the one with the altar," she muttered under her breath.<p>

Lightly and playfully poking Sanae's cheek, Kogasa said "Hey, I already said it's fine, right? What's done is done, and we can't really change that. You just have to let the memories of the past be exactly that; memories."

"You're one to talk," Sanae joked. "You can't even remember it anymore."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Ha-ha~"

This was good; two friends sharing a nice laugh together in Eientei. To Sanae, the scene seemed like something straight out of fiction, with how it all came to this. Things like that sometimes made her wonder if, even as she were thinking about it, it was all just a work of fiction put together by somebody in another place, and maybe even another time. That kind of thought made everything weird to Sanae whenever she started doing something soon afterwards. "Anyway, Doctor Eirin wants to keep me here just until tomorrow."

"But after tomorrow, you've gotta go back home to the shrine!"

"Yeah, I know. Still, the doctor probably knows best." Sanae laid back a bit, relaxing some in the hospital bed. "To me, it's really strange. I mean, a week ago, I'd go so far out of my way to exterminate you if I heard you were around someplace, but since yesterday, I'd go just as far out of my way to make sure you _weren't_ exterminated, or hurt or bullied at all. What do you make out of that?"

"Sounds to me like you haven't really had a friend before."

"I guess that's true…" Sanae didn't like thinking about her life back in the outside world. Not just because things seemed to go wrong at every corner, with misfortune accompanied by bullying, but also because that dark part of her life was now over, and none of those people would ever find her here in Gensokyo.

Pushing Sanae's chin up a little bit, the heterochromatic girl cheerfully said "Hey, chin up. You've got one now, don'tcha? I can sorta get how you feel, though. Back before I was a karakasa - when I was still an umbrella - this girl bought me at a convenience store for her friend, because it was raining lots recently and the friend didn't have an umbrella and always got wet."

"Is that so?"

"M-hm. But that girl's friend just threw me out in a dumpster next chance she had. Didn't even look sad about it for a moment. I'll even bet she just made up some crappy story about why she didn't have me anymore! Eventually the garbage truck came through, tossed me in back, and sent me off to the dump. I just sat there for a hundred years, getting buried under more and more trash for a whole century, before I turned into a karakasa and came here to Gensokyo."

"So, people didn't like you either…" Sanae couldn't believe herself anymore. All this time she'd been picking on somebody who was already a victim, with her very existence as proof of it. Kogasa had said to keep the memories of the past just as memories, and Sanae needed that advice now. If she let all her karakasa extermination get to her now, she'd feel like complete and utter crap. "Kogasa, I dunno if I already said this, but I'm _really_ sorry. The first time we met, I sort of made fun of your umbrella because of its shape and color, and then exterminated you for no good reason. And then I kept exterminating you at least a couple thousand times in hundreds of different ways." Now that Sanae understood the story behind the karakasa and her eggplant umbrella, Sanae felt horrible about exterminating her. "So, I swear that as long as I'm in Gensokyo, nobody will _ever_ exterminate you without answering to me."

"W-Well, you don't have to go _that_ far…"

* * *

><p><strong>I smell a crush!<strong>

**Also, I got a new bike the other day :D now it's a lot easier for me to get to the library in the morning, and to go home in the afternoon. That means I have more time at home to write the wonderful fanfics y'all love, though quite a bit of my usual spare time may get punched out of my schedule in the near future.**

**Why?  
>Because, I'm seeing about further schooling in the near future! Imagine, somebody like me actually having a life XD<strong>

**Self-derogatory humor aside, I dropped a pretty obvious reference to another of my fanfics in this chapter. I wonder if anybody else saw it besides Azure Xuchilbara who has read pretty much everything I've ever written.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Dark Side of the Force

**I did quite a few things in this chapter that are pretty uncommon from me.**

**A: I had dream scenes. B: Aside from the aforementioned dream scenes, the entire chapter is one whole scene. C: I can't tell you this one because of spoilers.**

**I think this fanfic is transforming into something very different from the original. I just write down whatever I think seems right, and this is what I get? Hmm…**

* * *

><p>"I hate to interrupt your chat," Eirin said, leaning in the doorway. "But I've gotta check up on Sanae."<p>

"Can I stick around?" Kogasa was really enjoying the conversation with Sanae, and talking may have even helped distract the two from the good doctor's presence.

"That depends. How are you related to Sanae?"

"I'm her best friend in the whole universe."

"The bit about the whole universe was kinda unnecessary," Sanae muttered, trying to make herself less visible from Eirin's view out of some form of embarrassment.

"I see no harm in it," the doctor proclaimed as she stepped in. Food allergies were serious business, so it was important to Eirin to make sure that everything was alright with the patients who came in for such things.

* * *

><p><strong>Doctors are now examining…<strong>

* * *

><p>"Is she gonna be okay?" Kogasa couldn't help but peek at the papers on Eirin's clipboard, though she couldn't understand any of it. She could read the words and the letters just fine, but the terms used here went way over the karakasa's head, leaving her clueless as to Sanae's condition.<p>

"She'll be fine. We're just going to keep her in Eientei overnight, and then we'll send her home tomorrow as soon as she's ready."

"That's great news!"

"Although, I hate to disappoint, but visiting hours are over."

"I can't spend the night here with my friend?"

"It's kind of against Eientei policy to let a guest stay here overnight. We're not running a hotel or a resort over here." If only Eirin knew the sheer irony behind that statement; that she was talking to somebody who worked at a place that was both a hotel _and_ a resort.

"Is it a health thing?"

"W-Well…no…"

"Security?"

"We have armed rabbits hidden within the walls at all times."

"Then what's the problem?"

"U-Um, actually…" Eirin couldn't believe she'd just lost a verbal debate. To a karakasa, no less. This had to be a new low point in the Lunarian doctor's career. "There…isn't a problem."

"Well, there you have it! If there's no problem, there's no reason I can't stay, right?"

"It's true that there aren't any real issues with an overnight guest, but I already told you, it's against…" How could she say no now? The karakasa before her was staring right into her eyes with two differently colored eyes of her own, seemingly sparkling with joy and happiness. Eirin could be cold-hearted if need be, but one would need to lack a heart to say no to a face like that, especially when it stared right at them with a mountain of hope. "…I'll tell security to not mind you for the night."

"Yay! Hear that, Sanae? They're letting me stay overnight!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Approximately) midnight…<strong>

"Zzzz…" The two had fallen asleep now, human and karakasa both. Sanae was laid out across the hospital bed like she had been since she got here, and Kogasa fell asleep in a chair next to it, with her head resting in her two arms that laid themselves on the side of the bed. The lights in the room were all out, and both of the resting friends were having dreams of their own…

* * *

><p><strong>Kogasa Tatara's dream world…<strong>

The Komeiji Hot Springs Resort was hitting an all-time high in business, but at the same time, an all-time low in staffing. All but a few of the attendants in the place were out sick today, with one of the very few healthy ones being none other than the swift and agile karakasa herself. She'd been getting much better at her job; she'd been at it for quite a long time, though she still maintained her bubbly and youthful appearance, as youkai will. How long had she been working here now? Three, four years? No…much longer than that.

Sixty, at least. Her best friend in the world was an old lady at this point, but Kogasa really didn't mind as much as she probably should have. That was because she knew a handful of the other attendants just as well as she knew Sanae. In fact, she was training a handful of new attendants at that very moment!

"You're doing great," Kogasa called over to one of the new attendants. Kogasa had known the whole bunch of them pretty much their entire lives, which would be anywhere from twenty to thirty years of age. This one in particular was Kogasa's favorite of the bunch, but she didn't dare say that in front of any of the others in fear of the intense jealousy that would follow without doubt. Jealousy was the bridge princess's job, not that of the colorful attendants running about.

"You really think so?"

"No doubt about it! You'll be just as good at this as me someday!"

"Wow! I hope so!" The youngest of the new attendants turned to look Kogasa right in her blue and red eyes, with a red eye of her own, and one in green.

* * *

><p><strong>Sanae Kochiya's dream world…<strong>

_SMACK!_

"Quit it, Kochiya! What'd I ever do to you?"

_SMACK! SMACK!_ "You know perfectly well what you did," Sanae growled, glaring daggers straight at the person in front of her. "You and all your friends, and all their friends, made my life a complete misery, Kageyama, and I'm about done with being pushed around like some little freak!"

"H-Hey, I'm sorry, alright?"

"Oh, it's too late for apologies~" Out of all the bullies in Sanae's life, while the one known only as Z was the worst, there was no doubt that young Taro Kageyama was the mastermind behind all the others, and was easily the winner for the silver medal in the Torture Sanae Olympics. "Do you know how many times I lied to keep you out of trouble? In fear that you would only get worse?"

"L-L-Look, I don't want any trouble, alright?"

"And I wanted trouble back then?" Sanae's bright green eyes glowed viciously. It's said that when there's something special in a bloodline, it never dies out, no matter how many generations pass. The bloodline of the Kochiya family, or back in older times, the Moriya family, _certainly_ had something special. That something was one word, and upon uttering it, people's lives could easily be thrown into complete disarray.

Sanae reached into her pocket, and pulled out what seemed a perfectly ordinary stick. In truth, it was, but she preferred having the stick. Holding out the end in a pose like something straight out of an anime, Sanae looked straight at Taro, and said "Thrust his soul into eternal agony…Mishaguji."

"Mishaguji? What's that, another god of yours?" If only to try and make himself look tough, Taro started laughing at Sanae.

Big mistake.

* * *

><p>"And in other news," the newscaster reported on the television screen as Sanae watched with vast interest. "Another in last night's massacre has been identified. This most recently identified corpse would be that of Taro Kageyama, yet another classmate of the suspected killer."<p>

"He's far too opinionated to be giving out the news…" Sanae looked right into the red eyes of the massive white snake coiled around her. "Shall we deal with him?"

* * *

><p><strong>Morning…<strong>

"Whoa…" Sanae forgot where she was for a second, but her dream was fresh in her mind. Sanae made a mental note that next time she saw Suwako, she _had_ to ask about getting the Moriya in her cleaned out; she'd been having dreams like that for some time. No doubt if she were Kanako's descendant, she wouldn't have dreams about brutally murdering her classmates in numerous gory ways. She didn't want those kinds of dreams to plague her sleep any longer. To her, they were almost as bad as the bullies that were the root of them.

"Zzzz…"

"You fell asleep here?" Sanae put a hand on the back of Kogasa's hand. For just a brief second, thoughts raced through her head that she hadn't thought in months at least. Thoughts that maybe, if she'd just pressed Kogasa's face harder into the mattress, she would suffocate. Thoughts that, perhaps if she hit the back of the karakasa's head hard enough, she would die right there. She wanted nothing to do with any of this any longer. At one time, she'd thought that the Moriya blood inside her was very fun, but her thoughts were all messed up then. _Buzz._ Sanae's thumb was pressed firmly against the button to call for a nurse. There was medicine in Eientei to suppress demented behavior. Sanae needed that now, just like all of Gensokyo once needed it thanks to her. Just seeing the people involved in that crisis left her with a heartrending guilt that burned right through her.

"Zzzz…"

"…" _I can't. Kogasa's my friend, and I-_

_You know you want to. She'll come back anyway, and she doesn't even have to know you did it. Wouldn't that be unexpected? Kill the loyal friend who put herself in danger of being sought out by Yuka Kazami just to get you some flowers. It's the basest instinct of all living beings to kill, so kill dammit!_

"You rang?" In the doorway stood one Reisen U. Inaba, being the nurse she was when at work here.

"Yes," Sanae replied, starting to panic a little. "I-I need that stabilization medicine you guys have. Lots of it, preferably."

"Hmm…I hope you don't take too much; it can have bad side effects if you do."

"Zzzz…"

"P-Please hurry up…"

* * *

><p><strong>I sure hope this doesn't become a sequel to Unexpected Expectation.<strong>

**While that fic was brilliant, things like that don't really need a sequel, nor should they have one. Although, could this be called a sequel? Or is it just something that happened after Unexpected Expectation, with elements from that becoming slightly more prevalent in recent chapters?**

**There were three big nods to that fanfic.**

**1: Evil Sanae in her dream sequence, especially with the mention of Mishaguji (who did just about nothing in UE)**

**2: Some of the lines in this chapter were practically taken right from UE's dialogue, with one line literally being word-for-word what Suwako said early in the story.**

**3: I mention the events of UE quite a bit in this.**

**Regarding that second one, anybody who can find every reference shall be heavily commended. If you haven't yet read Unexpected Expectation, I heavily recommend that you do. Not only is it probably my best or second-best fanfiction (kinda tied with Kaguya Vs. Mokou) but at this rate, you'll want the knowledge from that fic in case Sanae goes evil again.**

**And that's something I REALLY don't want happening! Although, the story is beyond my control at this point ^_^;**


	11. Chapter 11: The Trip Home

**Uh-oh, dark streak is kicking into high gear.**

**I'd better think of something dark to write so that this can become the light and happy fanfic it was supposed to be :O**

**Although, my dark work has such intense plot, so I don't know if I want to change it or not.**

**I'm gonna stop talking now, because on dark chapters, every word I say can wind up being a spoiler.**

* * *

><p>"You've been looking kinda off since I woke up," Kogasa said, sounding pretty worried for her green-haired miko of a best friend. "Is something wrong?" The karakasa's usual purple umbrella had followed her into Eientei in her hands, and it had now followed her out the same way. It took up one of her hands, leaving the other free.<p>

"I think so. Although, it's something extremely personal to myself and my family, so if you don't mind…"

"Say no more, friend. I won't poke and prod you about it." And like that, Kogasa dropped the topic. Then her gaze turned up to the clouds above the two. "Beautiful weather, isn't it?" The duo was now back en route to Former Hell so that Kogasa could get back to work and Sanae could enjoy her last day at the resort. Yes, tonight would be Sanae's third night at the resort, so tomorrow morning she would have to head home. Thinking about it made Kogasa kind of sad since the donations to a shrine were for the shrine and its residents, not vacations to Former Hell. That meant it would probably be quite some time before Sanae came down to the Komeiji Hot Springs Resort again, and that meant she'd be a pretty rare sight for the karakasa if she worked nearly as hard as she planned to in order to ensure a secured spot of employment. "It's kind of funny, that I only remember seeing the sun twice in my life. It was pretty cloudy when I went over to Eientei, so I couldn't really see it."

"I can't believe you just said that with a smile on your face…"

"Hey, it's good that I can always keep smiling, right? I need to keep my chin up if I'm gonna be a good attendant at the resort."

"Fair enough. Mind if we stop by the Moriya Shrine on the way back?"

"Sure."

* * *

><p><strong>Throughout the walk to the Moriya Shrine; scenes within Sanae<strong>**'****s wild daydreams****…**

Sanae found herself standing above a deep hole in the ground. The phrase was six feet under, but she took the care to ensure that the hole was at least twice that deep, so nobody would find the contents unless they searched specifically there, and put plenty of effort into their digging. Behind the green-haired psychopath lied numerous bags, all of which were labeled as simply being things from school. It was true, at least…

Sanae started dragging the first bag toward the hole, resulting in muffled screams from inside. There was a live person inside; one of the many who were the biggest figures in her past of being bullied. This one was the closest thing to a mastermind there was; none other than Taro Kageyama, who Sanae remembered most vividly as a bully. He was cruel to all, but Sanae always got the worst of it, and his behavior to her bordered on sadistic many times. He was also the one responsible for _that night_, as the Hanakaze police force found out just days before Sanae left to Gensokyo. Therefore, she never got to see justice handed down. Therefore, in her unconscious mind, she would hand down her own imaginary justice, by throwing him into this hole first.

* * *

><p>"Sanae," one of her classmates called out with sincere happiness. "Happy birthday!"<p>

"…"

"Sanae?"

"Go away…" The usual look of dark gloom and doom covered her face. If one eats nothing but lemons for their entire life, how would they react upon eating candy? Sour flavors being taken in for one's whole life makes it difficult to understand what something sweet tastes like.

"Is something wrong?" This student wouldn't understand why Sanae acted the way she did. After all, he was a transfer student who just came in the other day.

"Leave her be," another classmate said quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sanae isn't like other people. She's…I want to say a freak, but-"

_SLAM!_ The person who dared say that word in Sanae's presence found themselves thrown onto the shiny floors of the school, followed by a stomp into their face. And another. And another…

* * *

><p>"You really thought that?" Kogasa looked Sanae dead in the eyes with a look of surprise. "Oh, my…that's going to roughen things up for you a bit, isn't it? I was really rather surprised you believed the whole friendship act to begin with. You're just an outright freak. How could anybody be your friend, Sanae?"<p>

"…"

* * *

><p><strong>Back to reality<strong>**…**

_Grip._

"Hm? Sanae, is something wrong?"

"Kogasa…are you really my friend?"

"Huh? What kind of question is that?"

"I see…"

"Of course I'm your friend!" Kogasa, eyes alight with joy, looked right into Sanae's own. The karakasa could see why she asked. Behind Sanae's eyes lied so many dark feelings, that it was no wonder she couldn't really tell if something as light-hearted and joyous as their friendship was real or not. "And nothing, _nothing_ will ever change that! Other humans may not have treated you so well, but we both have that problem, don't we? We can get over it together, and then we can be friends forever!"

"Humans die eventually…what would you do then?"

"When you die?" Kogasa had to think about that one for a moment. Sanae could be a little dark sometimes, but she seemed to be in full gloom right now. Something must have been seriously troubling her. "When you died, I'd march myself right up to Heaven; I know that's exactly where you'd end up. And then, we'd have our own little place, forever!"

"Is that so?"

"Hey look! It's the shrine!"

"…" Sanae rose her eyes to meet Kogasa's. Even though she was troubled like Sanae, Kogasa could keep up a bright and joyous personality, and always had that adorable ear-to-ear smile of hers that could melt any beating heart to complete mush. How come Sanae couldn't stay happy like that, no matter how hard she tried? Instead, she not only brought out that sad mood, but the things she said would usually cause it to spread to other people as well. "Kogasa…"

"Yeah? What's bugging you?"

"Don't ever leave me, okay?"

"Huh?" Next thing the karakasa knew, much to her own surprise, she found herself tightly gripped in Sanae's arms.

"You're the only real friend I've had. Family is family, and they're supposed to treat you well. Sometimes that leaves me wondering if, behind my back, they actually hate me. Everybody else either treated my horribly or was just indifferent to me even existing. Nobody ever brought me flowers when I was sick, but you did. Nobody else would ever say such reassuring things to me like you, and they'd even make me more depressed than I already was. Even on my own birthday, the only gift I got from anybody besides my family was extra bullying, but you went out of your way to make sure I had a happy birthday…" Comparing the misery of her past with the joys of her newfound friendship with Kogasa was such a drastic combination of happiness and sadness, of hate and gratitude. Just that clash of emotion drove Sanae to tears. "Thank you," the miko softly said. "Thank you _so much_."

"Hey now, it's nothing." It just felt right for Kogasa to return the embrace. "If you ever feel like life's driving you crazy, and you just can't handle yourself, before you ever do anything rash, come and see me, alright? I'll make sure to always leave a bit of my bed open for you. Or maybe you could come get a job of your own there!" The bright light of Kogasa's eyes intensified at the idea of her and Sanae working in the same place; living in the same place. "I could teach you everything I know about being an attendant, and you could be one of the best ones in the whole resort! Miss Satori says that only Orin does a better job than me, but how can I compete with her, really?"

* * *

><p><strong>Moriya Shrine<strong>**…**

"Sanae," the two resident goddesses said happily. "Welcome home!"

"O-Oh, hi…"

"Hmmm…" Suwako approached the team of Sanae and Kogasa, and looked them over carefully, not skipping a single detail. Even the eyes on top of her hat seemed to move…_did_ they move just now? "I've gotta say, I can't believe you two get along as great as you do. I mean, after all those exterminations. There was that one just before you went to Makai, and there was also that one time on Halloween. Oh! Remember the one with the altar? That was lots of fun, that one~" Suwako disregarded the deathly glare Kanako gave her at the mention of an altar. "And then you'd talk about it, and how scared she was, and we'd all laugh and have a good time, and…"

"…"

"…I said too much, didn't I?"

"Kogasa," Sanae shouted after the karakasa sprinting away from the shrine as fast as her legs would take her. "Come back! Please!" She even forgot to grab her umbrella on the way out. Odds were that Kogasa couldn't hear her by now; she ran surprisingly fast if she set her mind to it. After all that. After Kogasa had her memory wiped away, and chose to keep it that way just so that she could be Sanae's friend. After dashing away from her job, taking sunflowers _from Yuka Kazami_ so that she could bring them to Sanae, and staying there with her the entire night when she accidentally ate nuts. After Kogasa had even promised to be her friend forever. She ran off like the wind. Because of Suwako.

_Gulp._ Even if she was Sanae's ancestor, and a full-blown, honest-to-herself goddess, Suwako didn't like the situation she now saw herself in. The air around Sanae seemed to visibly leak despair and depression, almost being enough to take the perpetual smile right off of the frog goddess's face. Sanae had hit some pretty deep low points in the human world, but this one was worse than all of them. This made her mood after _that night_ look like the bright demeanor Kogasa had shown for the brief moment she was here. "Sanae…I, I-I'm really, _really _sorry I said that…"

* * *

><p><strong>No fake-outs this time. That just happened.<strong>

**I think I may end this fanfic soon. Also…**

**While it was probably overshadowed by Sanae's murderous side in her dream world, I'm surprised nobody mentioned the heterochromatic attendant in Kogasa's dream; the one with the red and green eyes. I was rather hoping somebody would throw out a wild guess that it was a sign of a Kogasa x Sanae pairing, since that was exactly what I had in mind.**

**Uh-oh, if I end this soon, and I've lost my drive for my other stuff…**

**This is bad, guys. Once this ends, I'll have nothing left to write! Quick, somebody start naming off cute but unlikely pairings, preferably avoiding the PC-98 era and Ten Desires**


	12. Chapter 12: The Onset of Despair

**The chapters are all going to be shorter from this point forward. Things are hitting a climax on both ends of the story, and it sure isn't a happy one on either side.**

**Since the chapter is short, though, it's kind of fitting that my notes are short too, since I don't have much to say.**

* * *

><p>"Don't be sorry," Sanae said, picking up the fallen eggplant umbrella. Every word to come out of her mouth reeked of dread and despair. "It was bound to happen someday. That's just how my life goes. I'm the kind of person who isn't supposed to have friends, after all…"<p>

"Don't think that for a second, Sanae! Don't even think it!" Suwako looked straight at her descendant, and continued "You had tons of friends before, remember?"

"Name one."

"E-Eh…well, there was…oh, us! Me and Kanako!"

"Family doesn't count. For all I know, you could just be pretending to be my friends."

"…Sanae…that's pretty heavy-hearted."

"Is it?" Sanae looked out at the sky. It was getting very cloudy, very fast. It looked like it would rain heavily, probably by the end of the day. "Even if it is, I need to get the Moriya blood in me cleaned out. When you begin thinking murderous thoughts toward your only friend in the universe, it's time to flush out some toxins."

"It's a part of you; just as much as the hair on your head or the teeth in your mouth. Heritage isn't really something you can clean out, Sanae. I'm a part of you, and you're a part of me. Even if you don't like it, in which case I really hate to say it right now, that's the truth, and nothing can change that."

"Is that so?" Those thoughts had been kept suppressed since leaving Eientei; the medicine they gave her worked wonderfully. Reisen was even kind enough to warn her about the side effects.

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_Don__'__t take too much at once,__"__ Reisen warned, handing Sanae the bottle of pills. __"__Only one every six hours, and no more than that. If you take too many at one time, the side effects can be catastrophic. Highly accelerated heartbeat, increased dementia, but if you keep taking them even after that, these can knock you out cold for a whole three days. Be careful taking these, Sanae.__"_

_"__I will. I__'__ll only take however much I have to.__"__ To make her point, Sanae put one pill in her mouth, and swallowed._

* * *

><p><em>They<em>_'__ll knock me unconscious, huh?_ Sanae looked at the umbrella in her hand again. She had to find Kogasa, so that she could give it back to her. Yes, that would be the story she came up with. "A karakasa's nothing without her umbrella. I've gotta go give this back to Kogasa. It may take a while; she could be anywhere by now." As Sanae stepped out of the shrine, a bitter realization hit her. When she was in Eientei, neither Suwako nor Kanako even came to visit her. So they really didn't care after all…

* * *

><p><strong>Garden of the Sun<strong>**…**

Sunflowers. So many of them. Kogasa had been well-informed that these were Sanae's favorite kinds of flowers, so why was the karakasa here of all places? Sunflowers would just remind her of Sanae, and then the words Suwako said would come back to her. Maybe she couldn't remember the exterminations, but with the sincerity of that goddess's words, Sanae must have really enjoyed it. For the first time that she could remember, Kogasa found herself not smiling. She wanted to just lay down in this sunflower field forever, thinking about the good times she and Sanae had together. Thanks to what Suwako had said, though, Kogasa couldn't see herself going near Sanae again in the future. So with that, Kogasa laid down, picking out one sunflower in particular. "I'm her friend," Kogasa started, plucking off one petal. "I'm her prey," she continued, plucking another petal.

"_Ahem._"

"Hm?"

"May I ask what you're doing with my sunflowers?" Above the karakasa now stood a green-haired youkai. She wore a red plaid vest, and a matching skirt, over a white long-sleeved shirt. The most notable feature about her, however, was her umbrella. That reminded Kogasa just then; she'd left hers back at the Moriya Shrine. After she was done talking with this person, she would have to go get it.

"I'll ask again. What do you think you're doing to my flowers?"

"These belong to you? _All_ of them?"

"Yes. But that doesn't answer my question." One sunflower was plucked out of the ground, and petals were being pulled off. Others were being crushed beneath this karakasa who simply laid back on them without even noticing. The owner did not looked pleased in the least…

* * *

><p><strong>Ah yes, I forgot to mention this a couple chapters ago, but Hanakaze is just an imaginary town I made up that I think Sanae would live in while she was in the human world. I didn't want to say something like Tokyo and look like I knew what I was talking about, because I really, really don't. So, I just made up a nice little suburb.<strong>

**And on Kogasa's end, she appears to have forgotten Sanae's warning from yesterday. Originally, this note gave out a hint as to what Sanae was thinking, but I changed it to this informative bit at the last second to increase the impact on the next chapter.**

**Get reading, you nutty lil' bookworms! :D**


	13. Chapter 13: The Night of the Fire

**This one's pretty much all about Sanae. Which is alright, because she needs her own chapter, right? You know how I kept italicizing "that night" in previous chapters? Well, not I finally explain what the hell the big deal was, so hooray for that :D**

**Other than that, I think the intensity dial (and maybe the rating if a mod or admin bugs me about it) just went up in this chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>Komeiji Hot Springs Resort<strong>**…**

"Hmm…they've been gone for a while." Satori looked genuinely worried. Sanae she could sort of understand, but not Kogasa's disappearance. She should have been back by now, and there was no reason in the world for her to be gone this long. Something must have happened. "We need to investigate," the petite resort owner said, getting up to her feet. "Koishi, you're coming along too."

"We get to go to the surface?" Koishi ran for the door with a spring in her step. "What are we waiting for? Let's go, big sister, let's go!"

The rain had started. And Sanae was right; it was raining _hard_. She didn't bother to open up the eggplant umbrella in her hand. She didn't care if it rained on her; didn't care if she got sick. Kogasa was her one friend in the world. And because of Suwako, that friend was probably horrified of her, and would never want to see Sanae's face again. That was just the way things went in her life. Now that she looked back on it, Suwako and Kanako probably didn't care about her as much as they pretended to, either. When she was in Eientei, nobody but Kogasa even came to visit her; the two goddesses at her shrine were nowhere to be seen. During all of her birthdays, and throughout all of the bullying she endured in the human world, not once did Kanako _or_ Suwako appear to ward off the bullies. When _that night_ came, neither of them did anything to prevent the tragic events that transpired. Even years later, the memory was fresh in her head…

* * *

><p><strong>That night; days before relocating to Gensokyo<strong>**…**

"Pay up, Kochiya. You know there's a toll to cross here."

"It's the only road that reaches my house! I'm broke!" Easy money for the bullies. Charge her 500 yen just to cross a street that was the sole way to reach her home sweet home. Usually, she got 500 yen to buy something to eat on the way home, and she would always lie and say that it fell out of her pockets during lunch and she couldn't find it, and try to not eat much dinner to try and make her story seem that much closer to the truth. Today wasn't such a day, sadly.

"No money, huh? That's too bad, I guess…" This one wasn't Kageyama, though he was usually around for this whole toll scam. Tonight, he was doing other things. "You're gonna have to do something then, worth 500 yen."

"Do something? W-What do you want me to do?"

"Why not do something a little more…shall we say, intimate?"

"I-I…I couldn't!"

"No?" Sanae's eyes were soon not even inches from that of the current head of the toll scheme. "You've gotta give us something, girlie. Money or honey, take your pick." That clever little rhyme seemed to get a good laugh out of the rest of the crew, which only served to boost the ego of the leader of the pack and make his smirk bigger.

"But…I have no money…"

"Guess it's honey then."

* * *

><p><strong>One unwilling favor later<strong>**…**

"Have a nice day, Reptile." There were plenty of insulting nicknames people used for Sanae, but "Reptile" was probably the most common one. Because she loved snakes and frogs, and because her hair and eyes were green. Though right now, if Sanae were a reptile, she'd want to shed her skin, hide with a new identity, and never be seen by any other human being again, _ever_. Very illegal things had just transpired, and Sanae was perfectly aware that reporting them would only lead to double or triple trouble from the rest of the surrogate gang that aimed to make her life hell. She'd tried it once, and went home on crutches with a real nasty shiner.

So all she could do was put up with it. At least she could go home, albeit with having to explain that her uniform had been stolen and that she would need a new one. At least she'd be able to go…

Scratch that. The second Sanae turned the corner, her eyes went wide in horror. After all that, she'd come home to find that it was now a blazing inferno. Firefighters were here, but the fire wasn't going out. Should one rate panic attacks on a one-to-ten scale, Sanae's reaction would easily score a twelve. She tried to run in to make sure her family was okay, only to be stopped by the arm of a fireman.

"Stand back." Then he noticed that she was rather…naked. It was only right to take off his jacket and hand it to her. "Put this on, before you get in trouble for public indecency."

"Th-Thank you…" Was this really happening? Or was it just something out of a nightmare? If it was, where were Suwako and Kanako? Either of them could have easily put out the fire. And they weren't here.

"Do you know the residents of this house," the fireman asked.

"I live here! Of course I know them!"

"So then you'd be the Kochiya kid?"

"Y-Yeah…why?"

"People say things about you, you know."

"I know…"

"I guess those gods they say you devote yourself to aren't really as real as you thought, huh?" How could he tell that each of those words were like a dagger to Sanae? He was just trying to strike up a conversation. "We'll bring you down to the station; you can spend the night there if you have to. After that, the police can figure out what to do."

* * *

><p><strong>The following morning; Hanakaze Fire Station<strong>**…**

"Only one house was demolished," the newscaster continued, delivering news of last night's fire. "The house was said to contain four residents. The owner of the house, her daughter, and two close family friends. One charred body was found shortly after the house collapsed, and has been identified this morning as Kira Kochiya; the owner of the residence."

"!" So Sanae's mother died in the fire? Then why didn't Suwako or Kanako do anything to prevent it? She was the only Kochiya left, aside from Sanae, so…why?

* * *

><p><strong>Gensokyo<strong>**…**

"I understand now. Perhaps one of them was Kageyama all along…" Reisen had warned Sanae that eating too many of these pills at once would knock her out. For that reason, Sanae had flown into the sky, above the clouds, looking down at the world beneath her. Reimu probably saw her more as a fellow shrine maiden than any kind of friend, and Marisa could care less about her existence it seemed. Apparently, Suwako and Kanako didn't really care, and Kogasa, the one person who went out of her way to be Sanae's friend, ran away from her. All because of the Moriya blood inside her. These pills in her hand were for dementia suppression. Sanae knew that, if used correctly like they would be, they would have another use as well.

If used in the right way, these pills could also be used as life suppression. Sanae popped open the cap, and with tears in her eyes, turned the bottle upside-down in her mouth, taking down not just a few, but every remaining pill. Obviously the human world didn't want her, and Gensokyo was no longer the paradise she'd made it out to be. Unable to exist in this world or that one. There was only one destiny left. Was it a smile Sanae felt forming on her face as she felt consciousness fading? There was no way to tell.

* * *

><p><strong>Generally, I try to hold back on dark moments, but this one is all-out sorrow and despair. It's actually somewhat heart-rending, especially when it's inspired from the same doujin series that brought about the birth of Unexpected Expectation. I distinctly recall a fire in Sanae's past there, and that was why in UE she was pyrophobic, and that good friends, is also part of why the Moriya in her makes her a psychotic bitch sometimes; it's my own personal nod to the closest thing Touhou has to a creepypasta (that I know of)<strong>

**Heavy stuff. And to think that at the start, this was all light and happy, right? I'd better turn it back around soon, and I mean REALLY SOON!**


	14. Chapter 14: The Turning Point

**O mah gawd, it's so short! At the same time, this one chapter is a massive turning point for the entire plot. I do apologize for the Satori-sized chapter (ha-ha-ha) but I promise, upcoming chapters will be well worth it because of their badassery.**

**I did this and the last two chapters all in the same night, but even if I finished the next chapter on the same night as well (which I actually didn't), I'm not uploading it until Monday. I'd do it on Sunday, but the library isn't open then, so I'm SOOL on that one.**

**Why not upload four chapters in one day, you may ask?**

**So I don't spoil yer asses, obviously! Y'all got three chapters on this, AND a new fanfic, all today! Also, for people reading my other works, if I don't have a new chapter on them by Tuesday, odds are that I won't continue them anymore, but feel free to pick up in my footsteps :D**

**Just make sure to PM me about it first; I might've had something big in mind for some that others wouldn't see coming, like the ending of Mad Science or the wishes made in Team Nineball's Daring Adventure (see how I didn't say "the ending" there?) or even the boss lineup in Rumia and Kogasa!**

* * *

><p><strong>Eientei; three days later<strong>**…**

"…"

"You've regained consciousness," Satori said. "Welcome back. You really scared us there, Sanae."

"K…Kogasa?"

"No, it's Satori. Sanae, we need to talk. Kogasa's been missing for the last three days. And we found _you_ plummeting to the ground, unconscious with an empty pill bottle in hand." Satori looked about ready to start slapping humans across the face, but her expression also said that she most certainly would not. "I ran the bottle by Eientei staff, and they told me what it's capable of. Now, I can only draw up one conclusion based on everything, and your memories confirm that very suspicion. So, _what_ were you thinking when you decided it would be alright to end your own life?"

"Nobody would miss me anyway…after all, I'm just some youkai-slaying, reptile-loving freak, aren't I?"

"Look at me, Sanae!" The miko's eyes were still glued to the bed she laid on. Gripping Sanae's head and forcing her to face Satori, she repeated "Look at me! Kogasa idolizes you, Sanae; she went through all this trouble because she wants to call you her friend. For even considering suicide, you should be ashamed of yourself. I hear that some people call you a living goddess. Kogasa puts all her faith in you, so what do you think she'd do if you just threw that away like that?"

"…"

"She'd be crushed. For certain, you aren't exactly happy with your life right now either, but I need you to help me find Kogasa. We're all getting very worried about her, since wherever she is, she's alive, but certainly not well. Did she ever do anything that could help us locate her?"

"She…when I was here for food allergies, she brought me sunflowers…from Yuka's garden."

"Yuka's, is it? That would probably be where she is, then." Holding out a hand with an eggplant umbrella inside, Satori asked "Will you help us get her back, Sanae?"

"…" Kogasa was depending on her. If Kogasa's faith was so strong in her, that meant that the reason she ran away _wasn__'__t_ because she was afraid of Sanae! Kogasa still believed in her! "I'll do it," the miko said, gripping the umbrella. "I promised her something a few days ago, and I never lie to a friend."

* * *

><p><strong>Shit, man. The notes are almost half as long as the whole chapter :O<strong>

**At one point very recently, I was trying to write a story about a trio of vicious robed figures trying to take over Gensokyo, but the last time I had a trio of robed figures…yeah, didn't quite work out, did it?**

**If anybody read the fanfic I'm referring to, and you wanna know who those people in charge of the yukkuri army were, I can tell you. And I can even tell you their motivation, which would eventually lead to the barrage of plot twists XD**


	15. Chapter 15: The Antagonist

**Things are getting pretty intense in this chapter. The big villain in this story comes into the picture, and I decided to try and make Yuka seem as cheery and non-sadistic as I could in this chapter.**

**The portrayals of her as just being some kind of monster who runs about pounding everybody in her path****…****it just doesn****'****t suit her to me. I like a cheery Yuka who does her sadism stuff in places where nobody can hear her victims scream. Thus, the Yuka I brought about.**

* * *

><p>"H-How long are you going to keep me down here?" Kogasa was scared. She had every right to be, being locked away tight in Yuka's basement and all. The karakasa would never have guessed that the lovely little cottage she saw had such a terrifying person living in it, or that this bleak and gray basement existed under it. All over the place were bloodstains, torture tools, and other various things one could expect to find in the basement of the Ultimate Sadistic Creature.<p>

"You'll remain here for as long as it takes to learn your lesson…and then however much longer I want you here." Yuka eyed her new prisoner up and down, observing every detail of her body. "You know, you're an awful cute youkai."

"R-Really? Ah-ha…I'm glad you think so…"

"They used to say that about me," Yuka shouted, spinning around with a razor-sharp blade in hand, bringing forth one massive slice across Kogasa's abdomen, getting blood on the floor.

Why did Kogasa feel that she'd been here before? It was fact that she'd never really known Yuka before; the flower youkai herself personally confirmed that, but being in this cold cellar with the torture tools felt vaguely familiar to her. Looking at this green-haired monstrosity…for just a brief moment, Kogasa thought she saw Sanae in Yuka's place. The bubbly karakasa didn't like it down here. She wanted to go back to the resort; back where she knew she was safe. Either that, or she hoped somebody came to save her soon…

* * *

><p><em>KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!<em> Sanae and Satori weren't alone. Accompanying the two were the head of Gensokyo's police force - Kotohime, as well as the oni who had helped Kogasa with her attendant training, which would be none other than Yuugi Hoshiguma - Yuugi the Strong as she was called among the Four Devas of the Mountain. Orin and Okuu would have come along too, as would Koishi, but Satori had told the three to manage the resort in her stead while she came along to get Kogasa out of there.

"We know you're here," Kotohime shouted. "Come out of the cottage with your hands up! Yuka Kazami, you are under arrest for kidnapping!"

_Creak__…_ "Hello," Yuka greeted warmly. "Is there a problem, officer?"

"These three are telling me you've kidnapped a karakasa and are storing her away somewhere."

"Oh, dear! I'm being accused of crimes? I promise, officer, such claims are mere fabrication."

"Then may we enter the building?"

"Make yourselves comfortable," Yuka said with a smile on her face, swinging the door open further and letting the rustic coziness of her cottage come into full view. "Would any of you like some water? How about you, officer?"

"Yes, please."

"Very well. Maybe something to eat, too? I just finished baking cookies~"

"I'd love some," everybody but Satori said.

"Splendid. Afterwards, we'll see about these claims that I'm a kidnapper." Yuka made her way to a counter, and grabbed a large tray of cookies. There were all different kinds of cookies in the rather massive batch, from chocolate chip to sugar-topped, and all other sorts of cookies as well. "Enjoy~"

"They look delicious," Sanae praised, grabbing the first cookie she saw and taking a large bite. Yuka may have been branded as a sadistic monster, but the miko was about ready to ignore all those claims on her cookies alone! Even her own mother couldn't compare with what this youkai was capable of baking!

"Oh, I feel I must warn in the event that anybody's allergic. Some of those cookies have nuts in them, so please check before biting if you're…"

_SLAM!_ Sanae was out the door in an all-out sprint, looking a little red in the everything.

"Oh, my. I hope she'll be okay." Yuka looked pleasantly at her remaining three guests, and gestured to the tray of cookies. "Unless anybody else has food allergies, dig in~"

"Don't mind if I do," the oni among the group said, grabbing a handful of cookies and tossing them all in her mouth at once. Oni were known for honesty and strength, especially Yuugi, but table manners…well, not so much. "So," she started with her mouth still full of chewed-up cookies. "I have some trouble thinking somebody as warm and friendly as you is a kidnapper. What gives?"

"Alas, you appear to be at a disadvantage of information. My wilder days and the rumors that spread about my idea of playtime have given me a rather nasty reputation as a very sadistic creature, and many unexplained crimes of violence are often pinned on me if the real culprit cannot be determined."

"But according to our records, she actually hasn't done anything illegal until this suspected kidnapping," Kotohime continued, taking the time to swallow a bite of cookie before speaking, unlike the oni across from her. "You understand that I'll need to do a thorough search of your cottage, Ms. Kazami, correct?"

"Of course. I'd hate to be accused for something baselessly. First, though, let's enjoy these cookies. I had a dear friend coming by for a visit today, but she hasn't arrived yet and she's rather late. I do hope she's okay…"

"Don't try to distract us," Satori said, the irritation on her face growing. "For all I know, you're using magic to conceal your true thoughts, making my third eye pick up instead on thoughts of your garden and that ice fairy you needed to have a word with. It's very possible that you _knew_ Sanae had a bad nut allergy, and deliberately waited until she took the first bite to mention the nuts inside your cookies." Picking up the cookie Sanae had bitten, Satori continued "This one doesn't even have nuts in it. It's possible that _none_ of these cookies have nuts, and that the whole thing was just a diversion to get Sanae out of here. I won't fall for your trickery."

"Oh dear, I'm being accused again~"

"Don't play cute with me. I believe only one umbrella-bearing youkai should be able to play cute successfully, and that one person went missing at about the same time that I saved Sanae from a suicide attempt. Sanae had told me that Kogasa brought her sunflowers when last she was in Eientei; sunflowers from _your_ garden."

"Yes?"

"Your reputation as a sadist is far from myth. The Garden of the Sun has sometimes been nicknamed the Blood Garden because of your intense punishments for those who damage your flowers. If you had the chance to capture and torture Kogasa, I'm certain you would take it."

"You're a better cop than this human here."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kotohime exclaimed.

"But while I certainly did encounter your friend, she isn't here. I simply scolded her a little and sent her on her way." Yuka turned back toward the neat little kitchen, grabbing a few drinking glasses and opening up a refrigerator. "Drinks, anybody? There is some milk in here that I'm trying to get rid of; it's going to start spoiling in a few days, so if you want any, don't hesitate to say so."

"Pour me some, please," Kotohime requested.

"I'll have some too," Yuugi added. "Why not?"

"Splendid. Satori, would you like any? I promise it's not laced with knockout drugs~"

* * *

><p><strong>Eientei<strong>**…**

"Nope," Eirin said, looking at some papers on how Sanae was doing. "You're fine, Sanae. It's good that you decided to come here right as soon as you thought you ate something hazardous to your health. It's a sign of responsibility."

"Responsibility, huh?"

"That's right. Whatever you were doing before, just head on back to it and you should be alright." Eirin wouldn't bring up the topic of Sanae's most recent trip here three days ago. Odds were that Satori already gave Sanae a piece of her mind over that. As the miko turned to leave, though, Eirin said "Oh, Sanae."

"Yes?"

"As well as being a doctor of the body, I _am_ capable of being a doctor who works with the psyche of others. If you ever find yourself in need of a psychiatrist, come see me."

"Thank you, ma'am." And with that, Sanae left the room. She had to head back to Yuka's cottage. Hopefully, they'd found Kogasa by now and thrown the flower youkai behind bars.

* * *

><p><strong>Upon Sanae<strong>**'****s arrival****…**

_KNOCK, KNOCK!_

_Creak__…_ "Oh, Sanae! Hello again~" Yuka opened her cottage door once again, and said "Make yourself at home."

"Thank you." Everybody else was gone. And Yuka was still here. Once the door shut, it was just those two. "So…where's everybody else?"

"They all had business to attend." Grabbing a tray of cookies, Yuka brought it over to the table, and said "Cookies? I whipped up a new batch right after Satori mentioned your horrible nut allergy. I do sincerely apologize for that whole scare."

"Sure, I guess…" Sanae took a bite of a cookie…this one was at least ten times better than the last one! It didn't even taste like any kind of cookie, but like some kind of pastry straight out of Heaven! Just how on Earth did Yuka make this? "It's amazing," Sanae exclaimed the second she swallowed. "How did you make these?"

"With a little elbow grease and a can-do attitude," the youkai said with a bit of playful gusto, warding off Sanae's question completely in the process. "So, is there anything else you'd like to know? Preferably, things _not_ related to my cookies?"

"Aw, I can't get your secrets?"

"Every lady is entitled to a few secrets, isn't she? Now then, I believe there's something you should have asked that you didn't yet." With a subtle movement of Yuka's finger, the lock on her cottage's front door locked up. "About Kogasa?"

"Oh, right! Where is she? I noticed everybody else was gone when I got here, so…is she alright?"

"Kogasa is doing splendidly. I was just teaching her how to tie a good knot when you arrived. Would you like to see her?"

"Sure!" It warmed Sanae's heart up a bit to think that Kogasa and Yuka were now getting along with each other. The miko always had this impression of Yuka that was far from what was on display right now. Getting up to her feet, Sanae grabbed a glass of water…and promptly froze in place. Her hand was looking rather red…and swollen.

"Is something wrong?"

"Y-You…" The new impression of Yuka that Sanae had was gone. After a quick glance inside the bite mark she'd left in the cookie, that impression probably wouldn't ever come back again, either. Sanae wanted to scream. She _wanted_ to, but soon found herself unable to. That bite mark in her cookie, much to Sanae's horror, was chock-full of half-eaten nuts.

She'd just been poisoned.

* * *

><p><strong>I<strong>**'****m going to explain Kotohime****'****s whereabouts since she won****'****t be appearing again, so as to avoid it becoming a loose end. Before long, she****'****ll be awakening in the police station in the Human Village with no memory of this ever happening, much thanks to a memory-wiping spell Yuka had learned from everybody****'****s favorite goddess.**

**Which, to say the least, sucks for our protagonists.**

**Now then, I****'****m very glad to say that this is getting within five chapters of its end (liable to change later) at which point this shall become another of my greatest works. It****'****s always my best ones that get finished, it seems. This one in particular seems to be lightening up despite the dire situation of our protagonists, but then again, compared to recent events in this, ANYTHING would be light, wouldn****'****t it? Only way this fic could get darker is if Satori weren****'****t there to catch Sanae when she fell like a rock outta the sky.**

**I believe this has certainly turned into a surprise sequel to Unexpected Expectation by now. Way to go, Kogasa~**


	16. Chapter 16: The Breaking Point

**I just recently read the newer reviews on Unexpected Expectation. Is it really like what these new reviews say it is? Hmm…**

**I may end up writing a different version of that; a cleaned-up one that fixes everything y'all said were wrong, like the super-fast pace in the Mima arc, characters never being mentioned again, and of course, Deres who was mentioned but once in ever.**

**Although, to the reviewer who mentioned that last bit, you were dead on the mark with my intentions.**

* * *

><p>"Is…alright?"<p>

"She'll…soon enough."

"Alright. Thank you so much."

"Uuu…where am I?" Sanae's entire head was spinning, and the miko was seeing stars. "Is that you, Kogasa?"

"Yeah," Kogasa said, trying and almost succeeding to smile. "It's me. Yuka told me all about what you did to come get me. That's really brave of you, Sanae."

"Oh…it wasn't that much trouble…"

"Of course it was!" Shaking a little bit in her cuffs that bound the karakasa to a cold steel cross, Kogasa continued "If you were in my shoes, and I were in yours, there would be no way that I'd be able to do all this! I'd probably just give up and mope over losing my friend. Just thinking about how you went through all that just to get me out of here makes me feel loved by a human like I never was!" Putting it that way seemed to multiply the seemingly undying light that composed Kogasa's heart and soul. "Sanae, I'm really glad I know you! It's kind of sad to say, but before today, I never felt really and truly loved by a human."

"That _is _kind of sad."

"Yeah. And in exchange, I promise I'll never stop being your friend!"

"Why did you run away, Kogasa? I thought you were afraid of me, and…I'm kind of glad you didn't see the mood it put me in when I thought that was the case."

"Oh, that. Sorry about running away! It was just that I couldn't handle that frog lady laughing about something serious like killing youkai for fun is all. I don't believe a word of what she said, by the way. Somebody like you, such a good girl, couldn't possibly treat youkai the way she said you did!"

"…sure. We'll go with that."

"You know, you're lucky that Yuka shackled you to a wall. I'm up here cuffed to this cross. It's really cold, and kind of scary since I feel like I've been here before. You know?"

"…that cross doesn't belong to Yuka." Ironically enough, Sanae saw that Kogasa was on _that_ cross. The very cross the miko herself once tortured Kogasa on. Yuka was around for that whole ordeal. Odds were that the flower youkai was using this as some sort of mental torture on Sanae. "Oh! I ate these cookies with nuts in them! How am I alive right now?"

"Yuka gave you some medicine. It undid your swelling and in no time at all, you were as good as new! I was really glad that she did, since the other option was seeing you die a slow and horrifying death right in front of me."

"Please don't smile when you say that…"

"Sorry."

* * *

><p><strong>Komeiji Hot Springs Resort; Manager<strong>**'****s Office****…**

"The situation is reaching a critical point," Satori said, standing before the other three key residents of the Palace of Earth Spirits. "However, we can't directly confront Yuka; I saw her single-handedly beat Yuugi into submission. I don't know exactly what she is, but a fight would be suicide."

"Why not destroy the entire cottage?" Utsuho's wings subtly flapped as she continued "That way the whole thing caves in on her. At the least, it could be a distraction."

_SLAP!_

"…"

"I'm dearly sorry," Satori said, guilt occupying all three of her eyes. "I've been under a massive amount of stress and tension, but physical violence is unacceptable, especially toward my own pets. Your idea would be good, were it not for one important factor. Sanae and Kogasa are both in there as well, but I don't know where. Destroying the cottage could kill them as well."

"Oh…"

"Hang on," Koishi said. "If she's so powerful, how did you get back here uninjured?"

"That's a long story…"

* * *

><p><strong>Yuka Kazami<strong>**'****s Basement****…**

"Cut it out," Kogasa shouted, making a horribly failed attempt to break loose of the cuffs that kept her stuck on that cold steel cross. "Quit picking on Sanae!"

"There's so much she never told me," Yuka said, looking back at the karakasa. "So I'm demanding answers." The flower youkai's attention shifted back to Sanae, and from the pocket of her vest came a knife. "Sanae, do you recognize this?"

"I wish I didn't," Sanae said darkly.

"Well? What is it?"

"It's…a ceremonial knife, created by Suwako. It was used in ritual sacrifices to herself or even me. You should know what it is, you were the first person to _use_ one! And then you went traitor on us and sided with Mima, then up and vanished at Gensokyo's darkest hour. And here I thought _I _was being bad."

"We're not talking about Mima-sama. This conversation is centered around _you_, Sanae. You've got the power of miracles, yes?" Another item was pulled out of Yuka's pocket, this one being a necklace with a bright green star amulet hanging off it. "Do you think you could make this trinket work?"

"I recognize it. That necklace belonged to Mima, and only she could use it. I wouldn't be able to make it work if I wanted to." Sanae tried to look away from the items in Yuka's hand. Just what was the flower youkai getting at? She obviously had some kind of plot stirred up in her head, but it didn't seem like a very good one, both in terms of how it was crafted and the effects it would have if it worked. "Why do you think that I could use it?"

"Just throwing ideas out is all. Well, I still have one more thing I'd like to show you. A spell, taught to me by Mima-sama." Gripping Sanae's forehead tightly, Yuka explained "The spell she taught me was meant to dig into a person's memories, and place them in somebody else's head for viewing. Like somebody else having your flashback. Now, yes, I was there for the entire Moriya crisis not so long ago, and that is why I needed to get you down here. I want to get that power from you, Sanae."

"Stop torturing her," Kogasa pleaded.

"Oh yes, I forgot about you. Do you know what Sanae truly thinks of you?" Time to cast that spell. She'd found the memory, so pointing her palm at Kogasa, she let loose a flash of green light. This would show Kogasa everything that had happened, from Sanae's perspective.

* * *

><p><strong>Bubbly youkai are now having traumatizing flashbacks<strong>**…**

* * *

><p>"…" Kogasa looked broken. Truly and utterly broken. Her perpetual smile was no more, and the light in her eyes had died down, leaving just a shadow. Was this what it was like to feel despair?<p>

"That is the real Sanae," Yuka explained. "This one in front of us is just a human girl who wants to deny her own divine heritage. Mima-sama wouldn't take an interest in just anybody, but she wanted to possess _your_ body, Sanae." The flower youkai's gaze now turned toward the miko as she continued "Whether you want to accept it or not, you're a goddess yourself, _just like Suwako_."

"Let me go," Sanae begged desperately.

"Why? So you can continue to run about, completely ignorant of the heights you should be ascending to in this world?" _SLASH!_ Yuka delivered a clean knife slice down Sanae's arm with the very knife that had once been plunged into Kogasa's body. "I simply can't tolerate people who try to avoid their place in the world, be they high or low. The only way you're getting free is by surrendering yourself to that Moriya blood you're so afraid of."

"Please…"

"Not until I see the Moriya that's boiling deep beneath the surface of this oh-so-good girl! You show me that you're capable of really being a goddess like you should be! I want to see that you're _worthy_ of that blood!" _SLASH!_ This cut went down Sanae's other arm, making both of her white sleeves very red and bloody. "Well? Nothing?"

"…"

"You're a disgrace." Yuka's attention moved to other things around the room. Maybe she was just trying to fish out the "bad" Sanae with the wrong tools was the kind of thought pattern Yuka entered. Or…maybe she was using the wrong bait. Her shifting eyes stopped dead on Kogasa. "Maybe…for old times' sakes…we could sacrifice Kogasa one last time?"

"Y-You wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't I? After all, I _was_ the first person to use this knife; you even said it yourself." Yuka slowly made her way toward Kogasa, continuing to try and taunt out Sanae's darker nature. "You could be such a powerful goddess if you tried your hand at it, Sanae. You _were_ a powerful goddess at one time, who could even put Suwako down if she wanted to! Gensokyo needs people like that, or else nobody understands what it means when something truly terrible happens in this world." Yuka pressed the knife against Kogasa's throat, and threatened "Don't think for a split second that I wouldn't sacrifice her, Sanae."

"Put the knife down!"

"Ufufufu…angry, are we?" _SLASH!_ One deep slit, right across Kogasa's throat. Yuka wasn't known for neatness with weapons, which could explain the blood that got all over not just her clothes, but those of the miko as well. Kogasa wouldn't last long like that; somebody as weak and fragile as she may have even died the very second the knife started slicing. "Oops~"

"…" Maybe it was the sight of Kogasa getting cut down like that, or maybe it was the sight of her only friend's blood covering her clothing, but Sanae was, unlike the usual times people did something to bully her, not sad. Instead, she was angry. _Very_ angry. The miko's green eyes shot up to meet Yuka's with a ferocity not seen in a long time. "Unshackle me now, dammit! Or by Suwako I'll anti-miracle your life so bad that you'd rather be dead!"

"That. Now _that_ sounds like the words of a goddess!" Then something unexpected happened. In the time it took Yuka to blink, Sanae's body had turned transparent, then moved right out of its shackles. Astral projection? Well, that was something new…

"Sometimes miracles come on their own," Sanae mused, taking the torn sleeves off her arms. "But sometimes, you need to give them a little push. How much of a miracle would it be to keep you and Gensokyo from ever meeting again?"

* * *

><p><strong>Evil Sanae time, bitches.<strong>

**I kind of like evil Sanae more than good Sanae, but now that I have a greater idea of her life in the outside world, I almost wanna write a fanfic about that. Though, she says she never had any friends in the outside world…I usually like to imagine that she had ONE, but in this fanfic, I changed the number to zero to make her past that much more bitter. Bitter pasts are something I specialize in somehow, and a lot of my dark work is some of my favorite work!**

**I also like my comedy fics like everybody else does, because I laugh a lot when I'm thinking of what should happen next, and everybody else laughs when they read them. I should write another one soon…but who should be the star?**


	17. Chapter 17: The Revelation

**Somehow, I think this chapter could've been more badass, or just more…well, more. My drive on this is really slipping up recently, so it's a good thing we're getting right near the end. Hopefully, I don't end up giving everybody a crappy ending, but I'm going to try and settle everything up nice and peacefully at the end.**

* * *

><p>"And how do you plan to keep me from ever meeting Gensokyo again?"<p>

"Esoterica: Miraculous Binding Chains!" One of the spell cards the miko had invented during her darker days. It was for use outside of danmaku battles, in full-on fights to the death. Black chains appeared around Sanae's body, wrapping her entire body up like bandages before extending to Yuka's body and doing the same. "Our movements are now tied to each other. If you move, I move." To make her point perfectly clear, Sanae grabbed the nearest torture tool, and ran it straight through her stomach, causing not her, but Yuka to bleed instead. "If I get hurt, you'll take the hit instead. If you get hurt, I'll take the hit instead. It's a race to see who can kill themselves fastest, complete with one person's movements restricting the other's~"

"You're sick, even by my standards."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Sanae ran the tool through her body once more, this time in her arm. "Come on dammit! I thought you _enjoyed_ inflicting pain on others!" She'd go right for the sensitive spots this time. It wasn't every day Sanae got to be like this, and she had every intention of enjoying every second of this. "I'll make sure to have you praying to this human goddess for mercy by the time I'm through~"

* * *

><p><strong>Komeiji Hot Springs Resort<strong>**…**

"It's decided," Satori said, getting up to her feet. "We have our plan of action, so let's move out. Koishi, I need you and Orin to stick around and keep this resort in working order while Okuu and I deal with this matter."

"That's not fair," Koishi protested. "I wanna go too!"

"I know you do, but I can't have you throwing yourself at danger like this. I'd rather it be me doing this than you, and Okuu feels the same way toward Orin. Yes, your power of the subconscious can render you invisible, but against somebody like Yuka, should that fail for even a second…I don't want to think of what she could do to you before you could hide again." Satori got up to her feet, and firmly said "My decision is final. You two may not like it, but as Kogasa's employer, it's going to have to be _me_ who carries out these actions." With that, she turned to the door, with one hell raven following suit.

"They'll probably follow us anyway," Utsuho said on the way out of Satori's office. "You know how Miss Koishi and Orin can get about things they want to do. I mean, they're both great awesome excellent people, but they're really…"

"Stubborn? Indeed. We'll at least know if Orin is following us." _Or at least, I will._ "This is no time to get distracted, however. We must stay focused if we're going to do anything about Yuka. Hopefully before it becomes too late."

* * *

><p><strong>Yuka<strong>**'****s basement****…**

What was this that Yuka was bearing witness to? It couldn't be astral projection if Sanae's physical body was still moving, but there was no mistaking the astral image of the miko herself, albeit on a larger scale, behind her. Some kind of bizarre aura? Whatever it was, it radiated an air of darkness, complete with two massive black wings. It was certainly Sanae, but those wings and the elegant and charming domination inside the green eyes of this astral body were undoubtedly those of Mima. Who was no longer in Gensokyo, or anywhere for that matter. The flower youkai may have just been seeing things, though, since she was now nearing her limits on how much of a beating she could take. This chain trick of Sanae's…Yuka made a mental note to be sure to learn how to use it in the future; it could be very useful.

_Creak__…_

"Help me," Yuka shouted. Pride be damned. As far as she could tell, Yuka was now staring death right in the face, and now that she could understand just what kind of pain she'd been inflicting on people, she didn't give a good damn about her pride anymore. She'd be sure to renounce her old ways after what Sanae had delivered. "In the basement!"

"I guess your plan didn't work," Satori shouted back from the cabin above the basement. Neither did hers; Satori's plan had assumed things far from what was currently happening. Although, the "too late" she'd referred to, for Yuka to be shouting for help, must have been reached. The thought patterns she was picking up from Sanae confirmed just that. Stepping into the basement, Satori warned with every ounce of power and authority she could muster, "That's enough, Sanae. Yuka learned her lesson."

The second the words registered in her mind, Sanae's eyes darted behind her, to the person calling out her name. "It's never enough, Satori. _Never_. Not until my sorrow never has to be just mine, ever again."

"Do you think people enjoy being around a mind-reader?" _Okuu, grab her and make sure she doesn__'__t do anything else._ If Okuu didn't comment about the dead karakasa in the basement, it meant she didn't see her, which was good for now. Satori would be certain to find Kogasa the second the came back. "Koishi locked away her third eye because she was afraid of people hating her for her power. All the youkai in Former Hell are hated and detested by those above ground, and some hardly have a friend in the world. Nobody is ever alone."

"…so, I'm not the only one, then?" Sanae let Utsuho grab her arms and put them behind her back. If she had to escape, there was a good chance of her overpowering the hell raven as the two were. "You too, and Koishi. Kogasa had that problem once upon a time, too, and maybe even Yuka has the same problem as I do, given the stories that spread about her…"

"Now you're getting it. Just calm down, and we'll leave here."

"Wait…not without Yuka."

"Hm?" Even as a mind-reader, this was coming to Satori as a big surprise. "What do you mean, not without Yuka?"

"I mean, let's take her with us! W-We could make a gathering place or something, for people like you and me and Kogasa and Koishi and Yuka; for people who don't or didn't have any friends. I-I mean…it's a good idea, right?"

"…Okuu, bring both of them to the resort. I'll be there later; I refuse to return without my newest employee."

"Yes, ma'am," the hell raven dutifully said, bringing both green-haired individuals out of the room. Was Satori for real?

_Yes, Okuu. I__'__m very much for real._

* * *

><p><strong>Mima almighty, it's so…I dunno. I dunno what to think about this chapter, but out of the entire fanfic, this is that one chapter I end up writing that I don't really like so much.<strong>

**The next chapter's going to be not only VERY short, but it's going to be the final installment of this fanfic. Also, I'm not working on it until after this chapter gets uploaded, so I know that y'all know this in advance. It should be up on Monday morning, so that's good :D**

**I need a new hobby, I think. Or a new fanfic. Maybe one combining Touhou and Elder Scrolls, two of my favorite franchises ever.**


	18. Chapter 18: The Aftermath

**Two weeks later; Komeiji Hot Springs Resort****…**

* * *

><p>This was it. The most recent in Sanae's long line of dreams was coming to reality. It had taken some time and effort to set up, and even more time and effort to let everyone else know that it had been set up.<p>

"It's pretty cool," Kogasa said, standing just beyond the walls of the resort. "And I'll bet that everybody else is gonna love it." In front of the two stood a small building, built here under Satori's funding, with three heart-warming words on the front.

You're not alone

"I hope they show up," Sanae said. She'd gone through a list of every resident of Gensokyo, and narrowed it down to the ones that were generally alone in life, like she herself once was, as well as Kogasa. The list was bigger than Sanae had expected, entailing many people given the criteria. Yuka Kazami, Medicine Melancholy, Yamame Kurodani, Fujiwara no Mokou, a small handful of others, plus _one_ other name. Looking at the name on the bottom of the list, Sanae said "Somehow, I doubt she'll make it."

"Who? The Scarlet girl?"

_BOOM!_

"…well, that'd be her." Kogasa looked up the path, at the arriving crowd. Everybody on the list. They no longer had the building, but with a little bit of effort from everybody else, putting it back together would be a menial task. "It's cool that you did this," Kogasa repeated.

"Yeah…" A gathering of everybody in Gensokyo prone to being alone in the world. The perfect way of making sure _nobody_ was alone unwillingly. A brilliant plan, and an excellent way to try and make amends with Gensokyo.

"Well, they're here. Let's get this project underway!"

* * *

><p><strong>Holy fucking shit. So tiny…<strong>

**My pinky is bigger than this chapter! Well, I guess it's more of an epilogue than a finale. I had a good time writing this fanfic, so that's what really matters. This chapter and the one before it don't seem to be as great as the rest of the story, but I sometimes enjoy leaving folks with that "meh" feeling, that way my big endings are even bigger in comparison!**

**Also, even though it's probably quite a ways off from now, I figured out what I'm doing with college. Whenever I get to getting into one, I'll be majoring in music composition (ZUN inspired me) with a minor in literature. I'm a better writer than I am a musician, so this is my way of leveling out the field.**

**However, at the moment, I feel like a particular pessimistic teacher in that just about everything's been leaving me in despair recently. I'll do it when I do.**


End file.
